European T20 flies North for the summer

This article is by Bertus de Jong, and was first published on his substack (@outsidethecircle) here. It is the second in a three-part series on the European summer of T20 franchise cricket.

Franchise cricket has arrived on the European continent. The EUT20 Belgium is wrapping up, and despite the challenges and the weather the tournament looks to have been a qualified success. The rain-beleaguered Ghent Gladiators took the honours in a keenly contested final, the sun came out, the spectators returned, and a sixth franchise was announced for next season.

The weather, it must be said, has not helped. Almost half the matches in the competition were washed out, though given the amount of rain and the fact that the Hofstade square boasts just two strips, it’s remarkable they didn’t lose more. The way the two new turf wickets held up is arguably the most astonishing story of the tournament in fact. Though slow and low, the two decks actually improved somewhat over the course of the week. Given that ground was broken on the square only in April, few outsiders (your correspondent included) were confident they’d be playable at all. In the event the cricket was decent enough, the production excellent, and though crowds were an order of magnitude smaller than the thousands predicted, the atmosphere (aided by some celebrity appearances on the field and even bigger cameos off it) was as festive as the weather allowed.

There are wider doubts about the financial sustainability of the fringe league franchise model in Europe and elsewhere (on which more in part three of this series) especially with the demise of real money fantasy gaming in India pulling eyeballs, the accompanying downturn in the broadcast rights market, and consequent ubiquitous reliance on sponsorship from gambling and gambling-adjacent companies. The latter is a particular concern in the European context, with legal restrictions on betting advertising in live sports growing tighter year-on-year. Yet the week in Hofstade serves as a proof-of-concept on the field and on the screen, demonstrating that it’s possible to pull off at least one edition of a week-long, big-name, big-money league on the continent, even starting essentially from scratch.

With the party winding down in Belgium, eyes now turn (further) north to the Stockholm suburb of Nosborg where the Swedish Cricket Federation and the Nordic Smash T20 will look to pioneer a rather different approach to franchise cricket on the continent.

Backed by former Sweden international Manuj Jadvest together with Stockholm businessman Sanjay Mahajan, the Nordic Smash is an altogether more home-grown affair than its rivals. Mahajan and Jadvest are both permanently based in Sweden, indeed the latter turned out for the national team as far back as the 2013 European T20 Division One Championship. Investors are majority local too, the team payrolls rather more modest than at the EUT20, with rosters filled largely by local and European talent. The biggest overseas names are Shakib al Hasan (a noted no-show at the star-studded parade down in Belgium) along with the Windies’ Kesrick Williams, Hungarian/South African Ximus du Plooy, Nepal’s Bionod Bhandari, along with a trio of Dutch internationals not picked for the ongoing CWC League 2 tour – brothers Musa and Shariz Ahmad along with Teja Nidamanuru.

Jadvest describes the approach as “babysteps”, though he and Mahajan have each invested some 400,000 euro in the venture, and the longer term vision hardly lacks for ambition; aiming to expand the tournament to as many as 16 European countries within five years, and Nordic Smash as a leading pan-European T20 league. “We’ll start with the Nordic countries – Norway, Denmark Finland, and we’ve also had discussions with Romania and Poland.” Such an expansive vision may eventually rub up against similar expansionist ambitions harboured by the EUT20 or even the ETPL, but for the time being Jadvest does not see the Belgians as competition. “I’m just happy if I see more cricket in Europe – it means things are going in the right direction. We don’t see Belgium as direct competition, they’re quite big and have big names, and of course we’ll look to learn from them. Also of course if it succeeds, players can go there and play afterwards in the Smash here. Europe is an untouched market right now, we can all can work together.”

Big plans aside, the pair want to establish a working model at home, “there’s long term goals, but at the same time we don’t want to lose our focus.” That focus remains firmly grounded in Swedish soil for now, though the precise revenue-sharing agreement with the Swedish board had yet to be fully hammered out at the time Jadvest spoke with Outside the Circle, “The Swedish Federation will get some leasing fees every year, we’re leasing the product from them for, one can say, for ten years. It won’t be a flat fee, it’s going to be 20% up every year, though we’re still discussing that.” Jadvest readily admits he is a comparative neophyte in the industry “I know cricket, not so much the rest of things – it’s quite new for us” he confesses. Local media rights outfit XVI Sports have been brought on to handle marketing the broadcast rights for the first season; “it’s commission based, they sell the broadcasting rights rights, we’ll get 70% of that, they keep 30%. We’ve done that deal only one year, so we’ll know where we stand after that” Jadvest explains, though there’s no expectation of turning a profit immediately, “that would be in the third year, I guess.”

Costs and expected revenues both are smaller scale than for the ETPL or EUT20, the Smash a one-week single-venue competition, but without the level of up-front investment in the facilities that went into the overhaul of 12 Stars down in Hofstade. The Botkyrka ground at Nosborg has hosted ECN and international events in the past, including of course current edition of ongoing the Viking Cup, but the Smash will use the existing artificial wicket for the first season at least. Production is likewise being handled through local contacts, with the team that handles the broadcast for the Viking Cup kept on the produce the stream, with the commentary team also drawn from regulars on the European club and T20I circuit, headed up by the ECN’s Vinny Sandhu.

Of the six franchises, four have sold to local businesses, with Jadvest and Mahajan themselves each backing a team, Vasteras United and Stockholm City, while the UK-based Bangla Tigers and French sportswear brand Ultimate Garb picked up the Uppsala and Malmo franchises respectively. Notably absent though are Stockholm-based Anchor Sports, (backers of EUT20 runners-up Antwerp Anchors) who are reportedly unwilling to work with the Swedish Federation, friction stemming from disputes over a previous stalled franchise venture. There’s been buy in from much of the local cricket and business community however, which is by design, simplifying both communication and due diligence. “we want to make sure that we’re pushing from a domestic base, where also we can be in contact touch with them and make sure things are going in the right direction.”

Local connections also account for the bigger names attached to the venture, brand ambassador Munaf Patel being a school-friend of one of the franchise owners, while Shakib Al Hasan similarly came aboard in part through personal connections. “It’s a different approach compared to the big leagues, we’re not looking to bring in big names all of a sudden. I’d much rather we develop from the ground up, it’s better for us to invest in local and European players who live near, to first establish the basic structure and be giving back to the Swedish Federation as well.”

For Jadvest, Mahajan and the SCF then, building franchise success begins at home. All told the approach has more in common with upscaled domestic T20 competitions such as the Japan Premier League or Namibia’s Richelieu Franchise T20 than externally driven ventures such as the GT20 Canada or proliferating T10 leagues around the Associate world.

Nonetheless, the Nordic Smash is launching in the face of the same worsening structural and financial headwinds as the EUT20 and ETPL. The current global market conditions are broadly seen as hostile as they’ve ever been to start-up leagues, and right now perhaps the worst possible time to launch one.

On which more in part three…

Readers can follow more of Bertus de Jong’s work on his substack @outsidethecircle, his Cricbuzz contributions, as well as his socials: Twitter @BdJcricket, and Bluesky @bdjcricket.bsky.social.