Photo Credit: LinkedIn Profile Photo of Joy Bhattacharjya
The fourth edition of Canada’s Global T20 tournament started on July 25th with six teams packing 21 group stage matches into under two weeks.
The first two tournaments took place in 2018 and 2019, and, after multiple COVID delays and cancellations, the third took place in 2023.
In some ways, it is an emerging tournament dealing with growing pains. For example, all matches take place in one location in Brampton, ON (outside Toronto), “and this year’s ICC official sanctioning for this tournament came very close to launch making it challenging for some players to receive NOCs from their national boards.
At the same time, though, this year’s edition seems to be cementing GT20’s place in the global franchise circuit. The six teams are loaded with top global stars, including the likes of David Warner, Sunil Narine, Chris Lynn, Muhammad Nabi, Marcus Stoinis and dozens of others. Plus Canadian stars are shining in the tournament as well, including Kaleem Sana, Diplreet Bajwa, and Saad Bin Zafar.
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Plus, this year the tournament’s owners, Bombay Sports Limited, made a new and interesting move: hiring Tournament CEO Joy Bhattacharjya.
Bhattacharjya has a wealth of relevant cricket experience, having served as team director for the Kolkata Knight Riders for almost seven years starting at the launch of the IPL in 2008, and has also served as an analyst for Cricbuzz for several years as on-air talent.
At the same time, he brings to the role a background in many other relevant areas of the sporting industry, and many other sports as well. In the broadcast realm he has held roles as Head of Production at ESPN Star Sport and SVP and Head of Programming for History & National Geographic Channel for South Asia, among other production roles.
But outside of cricket he helped organize the U-17 FIFA World Cup in India in 2017, served as CEO of India’s Professional Volleyball League, and served as Director General of the Federation of Indian Fantasy Sports (FIFS), a self-regulatory industry body.
Hiring Bhattacharjya as CEO thus feels like a signal on the part of the GT20 ownership of a desire to take the tournament to the next level.
On the eve of the playoffs and finals, taking place on Friday August 9 – Sunday August 11, Bhattacharya spoke to cricexec about the success and potential for the tournament, as well as his own journey.
cricexec: This is your first year working with the Global T20. You have a very impressive background yourself in multiple sports, but including cricket. What got you interested in working with GT20? And how were they able to get someone with your caliber into this role?
Basically, this is a fantastic tournament. The Americas are just catching on to cricket.
We’ve seen the huge investments made by American cricket – USA Cricket and the ACE running (MLC).
And I think the time is right across the border. Really to be honest with you – I think the grassroots cricket out here is even more intense than it is in the US.
And I think it’s a great opportunity. I think we can really make this much bigger than it is now. Because I believe that the base that we have for this tournament is absolutely fantastic.
These are just baby steps right now, but I think there’s so much we can do to make this a really top 10 level tournament.
Following up on that – what are some of those things that you would want to do in the future to get GT20 from where it is this year to an even more prominent level?
I think we’ve been working a bit behind schedule so I think getting things in early: getting ICC’s permissions in early, getting dates frozen early, getting all those things done – so that we have a story and time to go to sponsors really early.
I genuinely feel there’s one thing out here – I think one of the mistakes a lot of tournaments around the world make is that they really want to cater to India and Pakistan and the South Asian market.
My belief is that with the kind of base that you have in Canada, the kind of sponsorship opportunities – cricket is the fastest growing sport in Canada – I think this should be a tournament for Canadians, for the US and Canadian markets. And really focusing on that.
And after that – look there are enough people in India, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Sri Lanka who’ll watch it anyway for the top players.
But I’m saying that we really need to make this a tournament focused – sponsorship, wise and audience wise – on the Canadian market.
Let’s talk about the broadcast deals that you have in place which are great, starting with Canada right on the CBC which is massive. And then other countries where you’re being broadcast, how important are those to your growth?
You said it absolutely right. For us CBC and Willow are our natural partners – our two biggest markets.
And India, we are on Star Sports, which is the biggest platform for sports out there.
So you have that kind of reach out there – and we are on FanCode as well, which is a paid subscription outlet in India, which also is very specific to get. So we’ve got the deals in place.
In fact, I think the deals right now are very broadcaster favorable.
But I’m hoping that over the next few years, as they see value, we will get much more value for it as well.
You mentioned some things fell into place later this year. And you weren’t able to get as much Runway as you wanted to lock in all the sponsorships. But can you talk about some of your sort of lead sponsors this year? How important they’ve been and what those relationships are like?
Definitely one is: I have to say the city of Brampton has been absolutely fantastic in their support.
And every day we get people from the city of Brampton, the Mayor’s been here, Councilors have been here, ministers have been here – from not just from Brampton, but from the greater Ontario area.
So I think those ways I think we’re getting value there.
The second part is that we are getting sponsors like Nissan due to television.
We are getting (local) sponsors out here – Chucks.
So there are a lot of local sponsors out here, and that’s really what I want because I think we can really offer value to them.
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You see you just look at it: cricket is a fantastic sport for integrating an immigrant experience.
Because if you’re coming from South Asia, or that part of the world cricket is the easiest way to connect in – it’s the one familiar thing that you can immediately grasp and own.
And so I think that’s where a lot of sponsors are seeing value. It’s a growing community.
And I’m hoping that over time, as I said, we’ll get more and more sponsors in.
So one is sponsors, the other is, as I said, is community support: what we’ve got from the city of Brampton, in terms of both money and support.
And I think that’s something we really want to grow as well.
Is there a vision to grow this outside of the Brampton and greater Toronto area?
I think, of course, there is a vision I think over time.
We’ll take baby steps – but from one, maybe we can look at two venues over time.
A couple of more teams. So I think, definitely – yes.
Of course, (Brampton) will always remain a centerpiece of what we do.
But yes I think we should look at growing it beyond just one place and that that is something which is not a difficult thing to do. Over time, I think it’s a natural progression.
You were at KKR from the launch of the IPL for the first six, seven years. So you saw that league – as big as it is now – in its infancy. Are there things from that experience that you’re recognizing in the GT20 its evolution?
I think some of the things that we are seeing:
One is definitely we are seeing Domestic players. I mean Dilpreet Bajwa has been absolutely fantastic.
And I think that’s something that happened with the IPL as well. It gave a huge boost to domestic Indian cricket and that’s why perhaps the Indian team is so good now and so consistent. Because they have so many players across formats who the IPL has given opportunities.
So one is opportunity. Second is sharing the dressing room with international greats. These players are learning.
And third is they’re no longer scared. You know, if you’ve played in the same team as Jason Behrendorff or bowled to the likes of David Warner, when you go out there in the middle, you’re not going to be that scared of them.
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So that experience is invaluable. Plus, there are certain other intangibles. You know – learning from them, the way they keep themselves fit. Getting top quality physios to work with you.
I mean, the first thing that changed in the IPL was player diets. And they didn’t understand it before and I think they get a much better understanding once they work in a professional setup.
So all those things are happening. And I think you will see that happening.
I think also what you’ll see over time which is just starting – is some Mississauga people behind the Tigers. Those home support bases are just coalescing.
I won’t say it’s a complete journey so far. But it’s getting there.
As far as the fan excitement, the social media growth goes –how has the tournament been going so far this year?
I think we’re just about ticking over – now is the time to take it to overdrive.
I think now is the time to really push the agenda and I think we’ve got there. Some of the crowds were excellent in the last couple of days.
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Obviously over the weekend we can be expecting much bigger crowds as well. And this is where we now need to take the tournament to the next stage.
So yeah – look out for fireworks over the next few days.
Obviously, one of the most striking things about the GT20 – also the MLC that just happened – is the caliber of the international players who have showed up. Can you talk about how easy or how hard it was to attract them?
Let’s be honest. I mean you’re right, we get really good players – the likes of Stoinis, Sunil Narine. These are top players: David Warner, the top everywhere in the world. Muhammad Nabi. They’re really top players. And the top Pakistanis will come – I’m sure they’ll be here next year.
So look, it’s not difficult. It’s Canada. It’s a beautiful country. The conditions are good. Weather is good. It’s a safe country.
So there’s so many attractions to this – Toronto in the summer is a beautiful place. So I think there’s a lot going for people who want to come out here.
Photo Credit: Wikipedia Photo CC BY-SA 4.0
And this is the kind of place where they also not just come – they want to bring their families here.
So I think the US and Canada have some natural advantages that way – as in people want to come and play here and I think if you give them a really nice slick, good tournament they’ll always want to come.
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