Sheridan pointed to the format of The Hundred, which includes men’s and women’s competitions with double-header matches at the same venue each day, and the existence of the counties’ T20 Blast.
“The UK has got an 18-team short-form tournament,” he said.
“One of the special things about The Hundred has been the double-header, top-level women’s cricket alongside top-level men’s cricket, and there should be a focus on getting that better and better.
“Expansion only makes sense if this competition grows very strongly over that period of time, a quick period.”
Banerjee, who oversaw the sales of stakes in the eight existing Hundred teams, explained that expansion would depend on the financial benefits, identifying suitable venues and having the depth of players to fill more squads.
In terms of location, Durham’s Chester-le-Street and a ground in the south west, Somerset or Gloucestershire, would be the most likely candidates for a new team.
The ECB has been adamant that The Hundred will not take up any extra space in the calendar, sticking to a window of four weeks in the school summer holidays.
Given the current format includes each team playing eight group matches – six opponents once and their nearest rivals twice – expanding to nine teams playing each other once would not greatly inflate the number of games played, supporting the assertion that it is possible to grow The Hundred within the current window.
However, growth to 10 teams could lead to 13 more group games than the current schedule if each team played one another once.
Shashwat Goenka, vice-chair of the RPSG Group, said: “Globally we have seen some sporting events expanded in terms of a number of franchises being added.
“When you look at it from a before and after situation, the overall event and individual franchises have always done better once more teams have been introduced.
“Those teams generally get introduced once there is a certain base that has been established for a competition.”
Source link : https://www.bbc.com/sport/cricket/articles/c4gx1ye9g8yo
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Publish date : 2025-02-14 12:24:54
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