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Saturday’s briefing was not good news for the South African sports world as hopes for professional competition to reappear on television screens took a massive hit.
That was confirmed by Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, minister of cooperative governance and traditional affairs, who was giving draft guidelines on what would be allowed during level four of the national shutdown as the fight against the coronavirus crisis continues.
Organized sport is still banned, meaning that clubs and franchises are still unable to train together, while return to action is still a long way off.
Professional sport worldwide has been paralyzed as a result of the pandemic and the economic impacts are evident.
Of South Africa’s top three sports codes, cricket seemed to have been the least affected given that the 2019/20 national season was almost over when the closure first came last month. The South African Cricketer Players Association (SACA) has also confirmed that there is enough money in reserves to ensure that all of the country’s recruited professionals are paid until the end of the 2020/21 season, regardless of what happens.
Sport24 understand, however, that Cricket South Africa (CSA) has secured a lucrative incoming T20 tour from India to be held in late August.
The tour was organized by Cricket Director Graeme Smith and Acting CEO Jacques Faul on a recent trip to India.
Even if that series were to be played behind closed doors, it would still provide a significant cash injection for CSA for around R180 – R195 million when all broadcast, advertising and sponsorship deals are considered. International public demand for parties involving India means that each T20, according to Faul, could generate between R60 and R65 million for CSA chests.
“That is the most important to us,” said Faul.
Faul added that playing the series in empty stadiums would not be a major problem since, for tours like this, the money generated by the gates would only represent between 5% and 10% of the income of the entire tour.
“We can definitely play behind closed doors and still make a profit,” added Faul.
While losing the series would be huge, Faul and CSA are confident that it will go ahead.
“We are pretty sure we could be at level three by then, but it still needs international travel to open up and that is probably its biggest problem,” he said.
“For us, the big due date is the end of August.”
CSA would also explore the possibility of moving the series to a neutral location, such as Dubai, should it come to that.
The series would serve as crucial preparation for the Proteas T20 World Cup in Australia in October as, under current closure regulations, national cricket camps cannot be held.
Faul added that if the current blockade restrictions were still in place before August, CSA would approach the government for guidance. Currently, however, sport has not yet been economically affected on a large scale.
Meanwhile, SA Rugby has announced plans to organize a national competition as an alternative to Super Rugby in the event that Sanzaar’s flagship product is scrapped by 2020.
All four local Super Rugby franchises are expected to participate, as well as the Kings and Cheetahs, which operate in PRO 14 Europe. That tournament, according to a launch by SA Rugby last week, would take place between June and August and the latest developments are a setback.
Speaking to Sport24 On Saturday, SA Rugby President Mark Alexander confirmed that negotiations with the government would continue in what was quickly becoming a desperate effort to find a solution.
“Professional sport is being hit by this and it could cost us hundreds of millions of Rands,” said Alexander.
“We want to present a proposal that we present to the government that has all the necessary controls.”
The tournament would be held behind closed doors, while SA Rugby would also undertake to facilitate the evaluation of the players and all those involved in the product. Alexander added that medical professionals were involved in formulating the proposal.
“The difference between rugby and the other sports in South Africa is that our regional leagues are played internationally, in Europe and Australia,” added Alexander.
“PSL is near the end of its league and cricket has just completed its season, but we are just getting started. It will cost us hundreds of millions.”
“Whenever we can offer content to our sponsors and broadcasters … it is important that we get some relief.”
Sport24 He also contacted senior Premier Soccer League (PSL) manager Lux September, who said the league continued to work with the government. The 2019/20 season was entering its final stretch before the national closing coup, with the 16 teams still needing to play between six and nine games to complete the campaign.
September said returning to the park as soon as possible was the goal, but would not elaborate on the current position of the PSL or the financial burdens of the closure.
