Cutting losses, reviving domestic T20 tournament top of Moroe's agenda

Minimising losses in the 2019-2022 cycle, and delivering a successful domestic twenty-over competition are top of the agenda for new Cricket South Africa CEO Thabang Moroe as he begins a three-year term. Moroe, who had been served in an acting capacity since September last year, was confirmed in a permanent capacity on Monday evening, and in a wide-ranging first press briefing, outlined the financial goals he needs to meet to ensure CSA’s success.

“The one mandate was to make sure the next four-year cycle, which is in a loss-making cycle of R800 million (US$60.3 million), make sure I bring that to below R500 million (US$37.7 million). Luckily, through relationships I have built, we have managed to reduce that loss by over R400 million (US$30.15 million), so CSA are looking good,” Moroe said. “The personal target I have set myself is to totally scrap that loss. I think that is possible. I would like to leave CSA in a healthy financial situation.”

CSA will make losses due to the tours they will host from the 2018-19 summer – Zimbabwe, Pakistan and Sri Lanka – and the fact that they will not host India, who always provide a profitable visit, until the 2022-2023 season. While Moroe is in the process of negotiating additional fixtures, he said it is “not going to be easy, given how the FTP is situated.”

Instead, CSA will look inwards in their search of greater profits, and at their twenty-over tournament, which was conceptualised as a way to allow the organisation to rely less on the FTP for financial security. To date, however, the tournament has only cost CSA.

After an elaborate launch, subsequent postponement and player payouts, which amounted to US$14.1 million, CSA now faces legal action from some of the franchise owners, who are demanding compensation for their costs. The bill could run into many more millions, but CSA have already embarked on a new competition, after signing an equity deal with satellite broadcaster SuperSport, who also bought the rights for the competition.

“It has been a lot of hard work trying to revive the postponed T20 league,” Moreo admitted. “We are changing it (from privately-owned franchises) and we have signed an equity model with SuperSport . We have sold the broadcast right to SuperSport. We will announce all the other commercial deals as far as sponsorship of the league is concerned in due course.”

Moroe is confident the league will be held this year and said CSA are “sticking to our timelines” as far as planning is concerned. He said expressions of interest for players will be sent out on July 30. Moroe could not confirm when CSA would meet with the aggrieved owners, but ESPNcricinfo understands that there are plans for a get-together in early August. And, as he has done before, Moroe did not close the door on their involvement, although he has now indicated that it may only come at a later stage.

“There are issues of trust (with the owners). You can pick that up in terms of what the previous owners have been saying. The only way to bridge that gap is to sit down and talk face-to-face,” Moroe said. “As far as them getting involved is concerned, our stance is pretty clear, together with SuperSport. We want to work this thing from the ground up, we want to build it up, build a certain level of value so that when the opportunity comes for equity – whether it be selling our own equity as far as ownership of the entire league is concerned, or equity in the form of purchasing teams – then we know what it is that we are selling and we know the right value and we know how people are going to make their monies back because these people are investing.”

Because CSA and SuperSport have yet to iron out all those details themselves, it is unlikely the franchise owners will have the chance to be part of the league immediately, as Moroe hinted. “Until we get to the point of knowing how much it is going to cost to run a team here in South Africa, how much you are going to get from a sponsorship, what you should be paying from a stadium hosting point of view, what is it that you are going to give CSA in terms of a license, we can’t give that entire picture,” he said. “Should that opportunity arise, we will be looking to sell equity in teams and we will try and get owners involved. This is, after all, the necesary processes of vetting and due diligence.”

Away from the profile of a T20 competition, Moroe also wants to concentrate on the existing domestic game, which will be expanded to eight franchises “probably” next season. “We need to go through a thorough and transparent exercise in terms of measuring who those teams will be awarded to,” Moroe said.