The global-franchise Champions League T20 tournament has been discontinued after six editions that generated a lukewarm response among fans. The decision was made by the tournament’s governing council, which included representatives from BCCI, Cricket South Africa and Cricket Australia, on Wednesday.
The discontinuation “the most appropriate decision due to the tournament’s limited public following,” said a BCCI release. This now means that the 2015 edition of CLT20 originally scheduled in September and October will not go ahead.
“This has been a difficult decision as the Champions League T20 provided added context to a number of domestic Twenty 20 competitions around the world such as the IPL in India, Big Bash League in Australia and South Africa’s Ram Slam T20,” said BCCI secretary Anurag Thakur.
Broadcasters for the tournament had reportedly been suffering losses exceeding hundreds of crores due to a lack of interest.
“It was a fantastic platform for players from around the world to showcase their talent and the participating teams thoroughly enjoyed the experience over the last six seasons. Unfortunately, off the field, Champions League T20 wasn’t sustaining the interest of the fans as we had hoped. This decision was made, after consultation with all our commercial partners and meeting the contractual obligations of all parties involved. The Governing Council would like to thank everyone involved with the CLT20 and all those who participated in the tournament,” added Thakur.