Graeme Smith Commissioner of SA20 taking selfies with fans at the SA20 League final. Sportzpics
SA20 League Commissioner Graeme Smith said on Tuesday that the organisers of the short format tournament are working to improve the fan experience, among other things
Smith was speaking to the media on the virtual conference following the climax of a third season, which saw MI Cape Town emerge as Champions.
Besides the fan experience, the former Proteas captain said they are thinking about upgrading stadiums ahead of the 2027 Cricket World Cup.
“When running an event of this scale, there are always things you want to improve. You are constantly thinking about your fan experience,” said Smith.
“Just off the top of my head in reflection, there’s a lot of work behind the scenes that we are talking to Cricket South Africa about and jointly trying to improve or upgrade before the 2027 World Cup.
“The stadiums and the lights are in place. I think pitch standards are definitely something we can put some work into.
“Every year, you just have to look at where you can get slicker. For instance we grew our digital presence tremendously in year two.
“So we are looking for global best practices to bring into the game in South Africa to improve the cricket and fan experiences.”
He said the league is currently in the process of collecting feedback from its partners and fans to see where else the cricketing spectacle could improve its operation in Season four.
Smith said the Indian cricket landscape was crucial to the game.
“I think anyone that knows cricket knows that the Indian market is crucial to the game. The fan base is huge, the commercial market is big for us, besides the fact that six of our partners originated in the IPL and have grown globally. Six teams also invested in the SA20.
“One of our biggest broadcasting partners are from India, so when you want to grow and challenge globally, you need the viewership and people to want to tune in…If there are 600 million eyeballs, we were hoping to get on average 250 million to tune in in India. So I think that really separates us from all the other leagues outside India,” Smith said.