Graeme Smith hails growth of Betway SA20 after hugely successful Season 3

The third edition of South Africa's premier cricket competition finished in a blaze of glory at the Wanderers last Saturday when MI Cape Town won its maiden Betway SA20 championship title by beating double-defending champions Sunrisers Eastern Cape.

This followed on from the opening match between the same two sides that drew a record total live unique audience of 382 778 viewers - a remarkable 129% increase from Season 2.

Betway SA20's partnership with one of Africa's largest financial services groups, Absa, brought an entirely new element to the Season 3 with fans winning up to R100 000 in instant cash at every game.

The competition also continued to broaden its work force across the various sectors required to stage an event of such magnitude.

"We want to position ourselves as hopefully putting on the biggest events in South Africa on an annual basis. And each year we've put on an economic impact study," Smith said.

"Last year, the study showed that we brought $4 billion into the economy, created 8500 jobs, which is incredible.

"And I think that, on an annual basis, if we can continue to do that, I think it's just terrific for the events, the sports industry, and particularly those working around the game of cricket.

"There's a lot of impact through the sporting ecosystem, which we're very proud of.

"This year we'll obviously do the same. Once that report is done, we will definitely share it with you. But, it's the little things that people don't see that really does make a big impact across the country."

Smith indicated that Betway SA20 has no plans to increase the number of teams from six just yet due to a five-year contractual agreement.

"We do get approached by franchises to be involved in Betway SA20, but, for the first five seasons, there was a commitment made that we wouldn't," he said.

"I think, obviously, there are a few areas that you'd need to consider like you'd need to add another 30 South African players at least to the League. And one thing that we want to maintain all the time is the strength of the cricket. So, you need to assess whether there's another outstanding 30 players in the League.

"I think growing the player base, creating competition amongst players, improving the standards of the game is something that's important. And then you obviously need to look at how you can make wherever the franchises go and make it commercially viable for them as well."

Smith emphasised the importance of the continued growth of Betway SA20 in the lucrative Indian market.

"Everyone that's involved in cricket knows that the Indian market is key to the game," he said.

"The fan base is huge, the commercial market is big, but for us, besides the fact that six of our partners originated in the IPL and have grown globally, we've got six IPL franchises that invested in SA20,

"One of our biggest broadcast partners is over there now. So, when you want to grow and you want to challenge, you need the viewership and you need people to want to tune in.

"Now, obviously, three seasons in, we haven't received our broadcast feedback yet, but there's 600 million eyeballs who are hoping to get, close to 200, 250 on average in India."

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