Supersport pulls out of equity deal with CSA for new T20 league

SportsCafe Desk

BySportsCafe Desk,SportsCafe Editor

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Supersport, the South African TV network, has pulled out of an equity deal with CSA for the new T20 league in 2018 to form a third entity to run the tournament. As per reports by Supersport, they had terminated discussions for an agreement on July 23 is still showing interest to broadcast the event.

"We have used our best endeavours to reach consensus with CSA around that shareholding model, but this has unfortunately not happened. The discussions on the in-principle shareholding agreement terminated on 23 July 2018. We have therefore decided to discontinue negotiations about shareholding. We are, however, engaged in constructive discussions with CSA regarding the broadcast of the event," SuperSport's CEO Gideon Khobane said. 

Meanwhile, CSA is now left without an investor following Supersport's withdrawal, adding to their problems in relation to the T20 league proposed to be held in 2018. The television network was to hold a 49 percent stake, which hadn't gone well with former T20 Global owners, who had two highly-charged meetings with CSA in Dubai and Mumbai.

The proposed tournament has already hit turbulence with no details finalised yet. Names haven't been given to any of the six franchises; a business model hasn't been clarified and an expression of interest document to players other than the last year's marquee players (like Chris Gayle, Dwayne Bravo, Jason Roy, Eoin Morgan, Kevin Pietersen and suchlike) hasn't been circulated. The tournament doesn't even have a name.

“The button on this should have been pressed a week ago and it hasn't. The tournament is now two-and-a-half months away and very little has been done," a CSA insider said. 

Earlier, CSA's acting head of communications Koketso Gaofetoge declined to comment when asked about the state of affairs. He had mentioned that CSA's chief executive, Thabang Moroe, would release a statement on the T20 tournament's future in due course. 

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