Champions League Twenty20

The Champions League Twenty20, also known as the CLT20, was an international T20 franchise cricket tournament. The event was first introduced with a view of replicating the UEFA Champions League in cricket. The competition was launched in 2008 with the first edition held in October 2009. It was jointly owned by the Board of Control for Cricket in India, Cricket Australia and Cricket South Africa.
The last champions were the Chennai Super Kings, who won their second title in 2014. It had a total prize pool of US$6 million, with the winning team receiving $2.5 million, the highest for a franchise cricket tournament in history. The format involved qualifying teams from T20 competitions of eight Test-playing nations, favouring the teams from India, Australia and South Africa.
Owing to poor viewing figures, a lack of audience interest and unstable sponsorship, the three founding cricket boards announced in July 2015 that the tournament would be cancelled, making the 2014 edition the last of the tournament. In 2025, it was revealed the event was making a return after ICC and key member countries backed the idea. The tournament is expected to be hosted in England with group stages and knockout rounds. The revival aims to boost global franchise cricket viewership and commercial opportunities. ICC involvement and final details remain pending.

History

Background

Twenty20 cricket was launched by the England and Wales Cricket Board in 2003 with the Twenty20 Cup as a result of a long-term decline in the popularity of county championship and domestic limited-overs cricket. By shortening matches to around three hours, the format was designed to attract a younger crowd and boost attendances. Cricketing nations began adopting the format and creating domestic Twenty20 competitions.
This was followed by the creation of international Twenty20 tournaments. The International 20:20 Club Championship was an early attempt at an international Twenty20 club tournament. It was held in 2005 and featured domestic Twenty20 teams from three countries. Twenty20 International, the form of Twenty20 played between national cricket teams, began in February 2005 and the ICC World Twenty20, the Twenty20 version of the Cricket World Cup, was first held in September 2007.

Creation

Immediately after the end of the first season of the Indian Premier League, the cricket authorities in India, Australia and South Africa entered into discussions to create a new international club competition and capitalise on this success. The plans for the creation of the Champions League Twenty20 were first announced on 13 September 2007. The inaugural edition was to be held in October 2008, run by the cricket boards of India, England, Australia and South Africa, and featuring two teams from each country.
However, the tournament encountered problems when the Board of Control for Cricket in India, which owns 50% of the tournament, decided to bar players from the Indian Cricket League from participating. England featured ICL players in many of their teams, including their domestic tournament's runners-up the Kent Spitfires. The BCCI decided to replace Kent's slot with a team from Pakistan and was prepared to also replace the remaining England team. In response, ECB devised plans for their own Champions League. ECB eventually agreed to the terms from the BCCI. The CLT20 was founded by the BCCI, Cricket Australia and Cricket South Africa with one team from England and $6 million in prize money.
Following this, another problem arose with the International Cricket Council over the tournament dates, which clashed with the ICC Champions Trophy, and the CLT20 was moved to December 2008. Plans were also made for the second edition to be held in late 2009 with 12 teams. In November 2008, the tournament was again put in jeopardy when Mumbai suffered terrorist attacks and the organisers attempted to reschedule again to early 2009. In December 2008, it was finally pushed to September 2009, when it was successfully held as per the plans for the 2009 edition.

Reception and impact

The tournament received strong support from its creation. Its $6 million prize money pool was described by the organisers as "the single largest prize money pool in any cricket tournament so far." ESPN Star Sports paid $900 million for the global broadcasting rights to every match for 10 years, a deal comparable to when Sony Entertainment Television and World Sport Group purchased the rights to the Indian Premier League for $1.026 billion for ten years. Ahead of the 2009 edition, Bharti Airtel bought the title sponsorship rights for three years for reportedly $40 million.
Despite this, the inaugural 2009 edition, held in India was not highly received by its targeted Indian audience, who only showed interest for the IPL teams. This was demonstrated by low attendance and television ratings. According to TAM Media Research, it drew an average television ratings point of 1.06, much lower than the 4.1 achieved by the 2009 Indian Premier League. Low viewership led to Bharti Airtel ending its five-year sponsorship deal after two years. Nokia signed a four-year deal to replace Bharti Airtel as the title sponsor but also withdrew after one year. Karbonn Mobiles replaced Nokia in 2012. From 2014 onwards Oppo bagged the title sponsorship rights.
Several attempts were made at improving reception. The marketing campaign for 2010 included television commercials featuring Bollywood stars while the 2011 edition had Shahrukh Khan as brand ambassador and an opening ceremony featuring international hip-hop artists. The ratings for the 2010 edition, held in South Africa, improved to 1.45. This is attributed to better performances by the IPL teams: the final, won by the Kolkata Knight Riders, drew an all-India rating of 3.30 while matches with the Mumbai Indians had an average rating of 2.11. The tournament format was changed in 2011 to introduce a three-day qualifying stage which allowed the inclusion of a fourth IPL team and weaker teams to be eliminated early. The 2011 edition saw the average rating increase to 1.64 but depended on IPL teams featuring in both semi-finals and the final.

Edition	Average rating
2009	1.06
2010	1.45
2011	1.64

Despite low viewership, the tournament succeeded in providing a global stage and significant financial support for low-profile teams. Players have also capitalised on the opportunity to further their careers in Twenty20 cricket. Kieron Pollard helped Trinidad and Tobago finish runners-up in the 2009 edition, including an innings where he scored 54 runs off 18 balls. This earned him an IPL contract at the 2009 IPL players auction where he was sold for an undisclosed amount after attracting the maximum possible bid of $750,000. Sunil Narine and Kevon Cooper also earned IPL contracts after competing for Trinidad and Tobago in the 2011 edition. Previously relatively unknown, Narine and Cooper were sold for $700,000 and $50,000 respectively at the 2012 IPL auction and made immediate impacts to their teams. In particular, Narine helped his team win the 2012 Indian Premier League and was named Player of the Tournament.
Similarly, in the 2012 edition, Chris Morris helped Highveld Lions to reach the final and in return it earned him an IPL contract at the 2013 IPL auction where he was bought by Chennai Super Kings for US$625,000, 51 times his base price.

Format

Although each edition held had a different format and had a different number of participating teams, each had a group stage and a two-round knockout stage. A qualifying stage was introduced in 2011, reducing direct entrants to only teams from India, South Africa and Australia. Each team receives a participation fee of $500,000. Every edition had a total prize money of $6 million. Since 2010, it had been distributed as follows:

$2.5 million – Winners
$1.3 million – Runners-up
$500,000 – 2nd and 3rd Runners-up
$200,000 – Teams eliminated in the group stage

Before the commencement of the tournament, each team names a squad of 15 players. All players must be contracted by the team for their domestic tournament. Mirroring the IPL rule, each team can field a maximum of four international players. Most of the other tournaments have a lower limit on both contracted international players and how many can play in their matches. In 2011, an exception to the rule was made for the Mumbai Indians who, due to players being unavailable, had a squad of seven Indian players and would have been unable to put together a playing team of eleven players should another be injured. They were allowed to field five international players. That year, Mumbai won the CLT20.

Players

Should a player be a part of more than one qualified team, he can play for his "home" team without consequence. If he plays for any other team, that team must pay the home team a compensation fee. Indian Premier League teams have been the most popular choice for the players. In the 2010 edition, controversy arose when an IPL team contractually forced three players to play for them by utilising a clause in the rules of the IPL. The clause states that the IPL teams have first rights over their players should they qualify with another team.
The choice of the players and the nature of the rules are common subjects of debate with every edition. It continued to cause confusion until 2013 when it was clarified that the CLT20 rules state the players are free to choose their team. However, for a player named in an IPL team's squad, he would have to forego 20% of his salary to choose another team. The IPL offers the most lucrative salaries and is the only tournament to have a clause relating to the CLT20 in its contracts. As a result, players are unlikely to choose against their IPL teams. For non-IPL teams wanting to keep their players, not only would they be forfeiting the compensation fee, some have felt the need to offer their players compensation in an attempt to sway their decision.
The only player to have chosen another team over his IPL team was Kumar Sangakkara in 2013. His team, the Kandurata Maroons, lost all their matches and did not advance beyond the qualifying stage. This incentive was lessened when IPL contracts were changed in 2014 to not have player salaries cover participation in the CLT20. A player will instead receive an additional 10% of his IPL salary for representing his IPL team in the CLT20.