Cricket South Africa’s franchisee-based T20 tournament, Mzansi Super League is likely to be played between eight teams with the addition of two more franchisees from the third season. In yet another significant development, the league may also get a pay television channel as broadcaster.
At a time when sporting action worldwide has been derailed by novel Coronavirus pandemic, Cricket South Africa is reportedly negotiating with two potential franchisees for teams to represent Bloemfontein and East London.
CSA is also engaged in talks with SuperSport to broadcast the league, which will expectedly stage its most lucrative season with the addition of two more teams and extra player contracts.
The MSL, which has lost over $10.8 million in the first two seasons, according to ESPNcricinfo, will also be in a position to recoup some of the costs of staging the tournament
MSL had not been able to sell television rights for the first two editions as the Cricket South Africa broadcast partner SuperSport did not bid for the league. MSL being a new addition to the CSA competition list, the board was seeking an additional media rights deal. The competition was thus broadcast on free-to-air SABC, which paid no fee for the rights.
The MSL, scheduled for December 2020, may be deferred to the summer next year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
All cricket activities in South Africa have been suspended for 60 days since March 16.