New Zealand Prepares to Join the Growing Franchise Cricket Market

The franchise cricket leagues are growing at a rapid pace around the world. And for this, several countries have started their own T20 leagues to boost the game. Now, it is expected that New Zealand will also enter the T20 league games within the next few years.

The rise of T20 leagues around the world cannot be denied. All the countries have brought down their own T20 leagues which has helped them to boost the game to a great extent in their country. It all started with India bringing in the Indian Premier League, and now have joined.

As of now, there are dozens of T20 leagues taking place all around the world. Now in the list of these T20 leagues, one more is about to get added within the next few months. New Zealand is now planning to launch in T20 league by 2027, which will be called as the NZ20. Fans are excited as the preparations to start the league has been commenced by the Kiwis.

1. NZ20 League

New Zealand Cricket is planning to start its own T20 league within the next few months. It is expected that the first edition of this tournament will be commencing by January 2027, giving plenty of time to the management to work on the same. Currently Super Smash is a T20 league being played in the country, but it is a

With the NZ20, New Zealand is also going to enter the private franchise based T20 league competition. It has been revealed that the tournament will be having a total of six privately owned teams. The format of the tournament will be a lot similar to that of the Caribbean Premier League which takes place in the West Indies.

The licence shall be acquired by the New Zealand Cricket but the tournament will be managed independently. While it is still not confirmed that New Zealand will be starting with the tournament soon or not, it is likely to replace Super Smash. The domestic competition is also having which are based on the New Zealand's regions, such as Auckland, Northern Districts, Wellington, Central Districts, Canterbury and Otago.

This tournament is being managed by the New Zealand Cricket, while the NZ20 will be managed by the team owners. It also means that the New Zealand fans wil have to bid adieu to the domestic T20 tournament which is almost two decades old by now. The Establishment Committee head of the NZ20 has opened up on the ideas about the same.

2. Super Smash to be Replaced

It will be the end of an era, as New Zealand is reportedly looking forward to replace Super Smash with NZ20. Don MacKinnon, the Head of the Establishment Committee, said that the idea to establish the NZ20 has been brought up by the great New Zealand player, Stephen Fleming. He has also engaged with of the New Zealand Player Association.

Several discussions were made to check whether the idea to have a franchise based T20 league is feasible or not. MacKinnon was approached with this idea approximately three months ago, which made him do some thinking about the same. He has revealed that the idea is completely feasible, and it is the ideal time to launch the same.

MacKinnon said,“The concept is a pretty simple one really. It's to see if New Zealand cricket could provide us with a clean window, which in our mind is absolutely essential for a very short privately owned competition, ideally in the peak of summer in New Zealand. So ideally for a men's competition in the month of January at potentially a lot of our holiday venues, some of our beautiful grassbanks ground and a short fan-centric, fun type competition, but one played by the very best players in New Zealand and hopefully some internationals.”

This league will be replacing the Super Smash, as it is not working as expected. , "We are looking at something very boutique, very New Zealand centric, a unique experience for players who come here, as I said, small grounds, a great lifestyle, something that we think players would love to be involved in.”

He further continued by saying,“What's different about it? Well, it's partly driven out of private investment and so you get the ability to be very innovative. You have the ability to have greater capital, to invest in better fan experience both at the ground but also whether you are watching on television or online. We also think that if we get this right, we will attract the very best New Zealand players back into our domestic competitions.”