Warwickshire want to host an exhibition tournament at Edgbaston to “reflect the communities” in Birmingham, according to chief executive Stuart Cain.
He said plans have not been made but it could see the Birmingham Bears playing against overseas T20 franchises.
“There’s 48 different communities represented in Birmingham. And we’ve got to try to make cricket as relevant to as many as possible,” Cain said.
“In a city area, we have a particular profile that we need to try to reach.”
Speaking to the BBC Stumped podcast, Cain mentioned Caribbean Premier League side Barbados Tridents, Pakistan Super League franchise Karachi Kings and Indian Premier League team Rajasthan Royals as examples of sides who could take on the Bears in a weekend-long tournament.
But he said it would need to be done “in conjunction with the England and Wales Cricket Board” and not to the “detriment of the wider game”.
“That to us would be a great opportunity, so for me it’s not necessarily about bringing the IPL to England, it’s more about how do we try to reflect the communities that sit around Edgbaston?” Cain added.
“A lot of these international franchises are just as interesting to the local community as watching the Bears at Edgbaston.”
Cain is the former chief executive of Wasps and has been involved for the past three years as a senior independent director with the Rugby League World Cup 2021 organisers.
He said Warwickshire “haven’t made a penny” out of Edgbaston in more than a year because of the coronavirus pandemic.
The club still reported an operating profit of £281,000 for 2020 – largely thanks to advance ticket sales for international cricket and T20 Finals Day, and TV money – although there was a decrease of around £1m on their estimated earnings before deductions.
“I think we do need to find new ways of bringing revenue into the game as Test match venues because you’ve got a large infrastructure to try to keep funded,” Cain said.
“The idea of a meaningful exhibition tournament weekend could be quite interesting.”
The full BBC Stumped podcast will be available from 14:00 BST on Thursday, 15 April on BBC Sounds.
Article courtesy of BBC Sport
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