$400M Saudi T20 League Faces Roadblock as India and England Refuse Support

The Saudi T20 league, a major cricket project worth around USD 400 million, won't be getting support from the BCCI or the England and Wales Cricket Board. According to a report by The Guardian, both boards are keen to protect their own main tournaments and don't want them to lose importance.

"During discussions at the World Test Championship final at Lord's this month, the ECB and BCCI agreed to unite in opposing the new league. The boards agreed they would not issue "no objection certificates" to their players to sign up for the new competition, as well as lobbying the International Cricket Council (ICC) to withhold their endorsement," the newspaper wrote.

Cricket Australia Eyes Profit with $400M Saudi Investment in New League

Cricket Australia (CA) was keen on partnering with Saudi investors in the league. 

"Under plans that emerged in Australia this year, Saudi's SRJ Sports Investments has pledged to inject USD 400m to set up the new league, which would have eight teams playing four tournaments in different locations each year in a set-up that has been compared to tennis's Grand Slams," Guardian said.

Cricket Australia's primary goal is to generate a profit from the funds raised by private investors, as the BBL teams are still owned by Cricket Australia and the state associations.

Growing Commercial Influence of Indian Cricket in Global Leagues

However, IPL is a USD 12 billion product and the ECB is all set to get richer by GBP 520m (USD 700 million) from the sale of 49% of the eight 'Hundred franchises'. "Cricket South Africa raised more than GBP 100m (USD 136 million) by selling franchises in its SA20 competition to Indian Premier League owners three years ago."

The paper also mentioned that the ICC, which is now led by former BCCI secretary Jay Shah, is not expected to oppose what the Indian board wants.

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