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PIF & Durham 100 Franchise

brandon said:
I’ll have to give it a listen later, what are the highlights?
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Hotel is happening and will generate a big income for the club even without people. Staying for cricket, hundred franchise seems ready to go as soon as the ECB allow it and if that happens he said hotel is almost paid for just form that so profits increase, but Saudis want in, numerous meeting already all part of them
Wanting to put billions into the north east like the UAE did in Manchester,

But spoke well about county cricket wants it to be the top red ball comp in the world

Spoke about sacking off the bbc coverage in the live stream as they can’t advertise on it, so can now make money from it, want the investment in place that it becomes almost broadcast quality that they could match sky with
 

Sillypoint said:
Hotel is happening and will generate a big income for the club even without people. Staying for cricket, hundred franchise seems ready to go as soon as the ECB allow it and if that happens he said hotel is almost paid for just form that so profits increase, but Saudis want in, numerous meeting already all part of them
Wanting to put billions into the north east like the UAE did in Manchester,

But spoke well about county cricket wants it to be the top red ball comp in the world

Spoke about sacking off the bbc coverage in the live stream as they can’t advertise on it, so can now make money from it, want the investment in place that it becomes almost broadcast quality that they could match sky with
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I'm converted on the Durham streaming replacing the BBC, I like listening to the old Durham pro's.
One question though, wasn't the 100 format invented as it was to get cricket broadcast on live tv to 'attract the kid's?
 
Bri said:
One question though, wasn't the 100 format invented as it was to get cricket broadcast on live tv to 'attract the kid's?
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That was the myth they trotted out as part of the propaganda campaign, yes.

I’ve finally listened to the interview and share the sentiments of most. It has to be said, Tim Bostock deserves huge credit for turning the fortunes of our club around. Both to get us back on an even keel and to now have us challenging for cricketing honours amongst the big boys again.

Love how passionate he is about Durham and how positive he is about everything, it’s natural to a lot of us from this part of the world to always want to look at the negatives and of what could go wrong as opposed to what could go right - but his positivity is infectious.

Can’t really find much fault with anything he says, I do feel like he’s flogging this 16.4 idea to keep on the right side of the decision makers, even though it’s clearly dying on it’s feet. His positivity on that issue is a little bit smoke and mirrors I thought, especially when he goes on to talk up the Blast after it. I think in many ways, he probably realises the Blast has to be protected so that it can pick up the pieces after the coffin is nailed down on the 16.4 - but there probably does need to be some kind of trade off around how many counties are at the ‘top table’.

His comments on ‘owning our summer’ pretty much tally with everything we’ve all (most anyway) said on here. There needs to be a better structure to the season and the counties need to work alongside the national side to ensure there is more scope to have the international players available more for their counties.

Simon Hughes has some questionable views on how to achieve ‘success’ in cricket, but he’s always been a mad keen Durham supporter and it’s always quite helpful in my view that he’s one of so many pundits in the game who love to talk up Durham.

The one main disappointment for me and it really needs to be put to Bostock and the club - if you’re going to invite Saudi investment into the club, have you given proper thought to how it would affect the fanbase? Durham have a fantastic history of casting aside the normal boundaries and rivalries that split north east sporting opinion. DCCC have always been able to cut through much of that particular bullshit - but by inviting in the Saudis, you run the risk of alienating over half of your fanbase. In much the same way that the 16.4 cut out 55% of the county fanbase, bringing in the sportswashers would likely have the same (probably worse in terms of percentage) negative effect.

The short term financial gain looks lovely on the face of it, but as with all sports, the fans are the most valuable asset any club can have. Long after the Saudis leave, the people of the region will still be here and the club cannot afford to lose them. Money can be replaced, a fanbase cannot.
 
brandon said:
That was the myth they trotted out as part of the propaganda campaign, yes.

I’ve finally listened to the interview and share the sentiments of most. It has to be said, Tim Bostock deserves huge credit for turning the fortunes of our club around. Both to get us back on an even keel and to now have us challenging for cricketing honours amongst the big boys again.

Love how passionate he is about Durham and how positive he is about everything, it’s natural to a lot of us from this part of the world to always want to look at the negatives and of what could go wrong as opposed to what could go right - but his positivity is infectious.

Can’t really find much fault with anything he says, I do feel like he’s flogging this 16.4 idea to keep on the right side of the decision makers, even though it’s clearly dying on it’s feet. His positivity on that issue is a little bit smoke and mirrors I thought, especially when he goes on to talk up the Blast after it. I think in many ways, he probably realises the Blast has to be protected so that it can pick up the pieces after the coffin is nailed down on the 16.4 - but there probably does need to be some kind of trade off around how many counties are at the ‘top table’.

His comments on ‘owning our summer’ pretty much tally with everything we’ve all (most anyway) said on here. There needs to be a better structure to the season and the counties need to work alongside the national side to ensure there is more scope to have the international players available more for their counties.

Simon Hughes has some questionable views on how to achieve ‘success’ in cricket, but he’s always been a mad keen Durham supporter and it’s always quite helpful in my view that he’s one of so many pundits in the game who love to talk up Durham.

The one main disappointment for me and it really needs to be put to Bostock and the club - if you’re going to invite Saudi investment into the club, have you given proper thought to how it would affect the fanbase? Durham have a fantastic history of casting aside the normal boundaries and rivalries that split north east sporting opinion. DCCC have always been able to cut through much of that particular bullshit - but by inviting in the Saudis, you run the risk of alienating over half of your fanbase. In much the same way that the 16.4 cut out 55% of the county fanbase, bringing in the sportswashers would likely have the same (probably worse in terms of percentage) negative effect.

The short term financial gain looks lovely on the face of it, but as with all sports, the fans are the most valuable asset any club can have. Long after the Saudis leave, the people of the region will still be here and the club cannot afford to lose them. Money can be replaced, a fanbase cannot.
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Wouldn’t disagree with much of that, and if we have to go down the road into the 21st century that we seem to be going down I am still glad to have Bostock in the driving seat. But I fear that in respect of your suggestion he is paying lipservice to the Hundred you may be letting your wish be father to the thought. It seemed to me to be absolutely central to his strategy for piggybacking on the Saudi regional investment. I don’t think he talks up the Hundred despite his views, I think they are his views. He wants an expansion franchise. And since I am not much more convinced of the medium term future of that particular competitions than you are, I am a bit worried about what he is buying into.

Otherwise I can get on board with the regional stuff up to a point. The club does this anyway with its games at South North. And even if it stuck to the traditional county only, we need to remember, whether we like it or not not in this particular group, this includes a number of areas that have been mixed in their football loyalties for years and some that are now pretty much solidly black and white (and even a few that are Boro). It’s not Sunderland County Cricket club.
 
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Fleagle said:
But I fear that in respect of your suggestion he is paying lipservice to the Hundred you may be letting your wish be father to the thought.
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Maybe I didn’t explain myself well enough, I’m in no doubt he’s fully on board with it.

Fleagle said:
It seemed to me to be absolutely central to his strategy for piggybacking on the Saudi regional investment. I don’t think he talks up the Hundred despite his views, I think they are his views.
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Exactly. It isn’t lip service, I wasn’t suggesting it was.

Fleagle said:
He wants an expansion franchise. And since I am not much more convinced of the medium term future of that particular competitions than you are, I am a bit worried about what he is buying into.
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He does, but my suggestion that it’s dying on its arse is based on what I see and hear from the cricket community. There’s a lot more dissent against it now from pundits and journalists for example than in the early days when everyone had just drunk the kool aid. Much more scrutiny over decision making and where the money is going, etc.

Bostock wants a piece of the pie before it goes stale and whether any of us like it or not, that’s the position he has to take really when it comes to what’s best for the interests of the Club.
 
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My thoughts are that the hundred as is may change name or comp format, but the future of the game will be those 8 to 10 franchises, it’s a back door way of getting the teams down which I think the ECB say they don’t want but secretly do, I think the red ball comp he was on about could be just between those teams with franchises
 
Looks like the Saudis are rethinking their investments into sport. In other words they aren't going to put money into sports that make a big loss.

Therefore there's no way they will put money into a Durham franchise now. Not sure which 16.4 franchises are Saudi funded but if the ECB haven't had the cheques yet, they might have just broken out into a cold sweat.
 
Aidan11 said:
Looks like the Saudis are rethinking their investments into sport. In other words they aren't going to put money into sports that make a big loss.

Therefore there's no way they will put money into a Durham franchise now. Not sure which 16.4 franchises are Saudi funded but if the ECB haven't had the cheques yet, they might have just broken out into a cold sweat.
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I think could be wrong but the answer to your last question is none
 
consettsafc said:
Can someone please help an old man here?
These franchises, are they officially anything to do with the counties that host the matches at their grounds?
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Termite infestation. The worst kind too. To think we invited this into our house. The abomination that is the 100 was the only way the trojan horse could be brought in.

It'll end up like the Gaza strip.

The love of money is the root of all evil.

In the land of the blind. The one eye man is King.
 
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