The inaugural edition of the International League T20 (ILT20) competition is reportedly set to become the second most lucrative league in the world behind the Indian Premier League.
The new tournament will be staged in the UAE and will be played between January 6 and February 12 next year, meaning it clashes with Australia's Big Bash and South Africa's new T20 competition.
However, the ILT20 is hoping to lure a number of the sport's biggest stars with bumper pay packets for just over a month's work. Among the six teams, three of them are owned by companies who already own IPL franchises, while Manchester United co-chairman Avram Glazer also owns one as the head of Lancer Capital LLC.
The remaining two teams are owned by Indian business Capri Global and Adani Group. And according to ESPNcricinfo, those teams look set to have a salary cap of up to $2.5m (£2m) each, with star players set to earn up to $450,000 (£371,000).
That would make it a more lucrative league than The Hundred, where top band draft picks can earn £125,000, the Pakistan Super League, whose highest-paid player earns a reported $200,000 (£165,000), and the Big Bash, where the top overseas stars reportedly make around $238,000 (£196,000).
The highest-earning player in the IPL, meanwhile, banks more than $2m (£1.65m) per season. David Warner is among the big names which have been linked with the league, with a report from The Australian claiming he has made a request to Cricket Australia to play in the ILT20 instead of the Big Bash.
And Australia legend Adam Gilchrist has warned it would be "commercial suicide" if Warner was allowed to turn his back on the Big Bash in favour of the new UAE league. Speaking on SEN radio, Gilchrist said: "I think it would almost be commercial suicide for [Cricket Australia] to allow a player like him to go head-to-head up against their own competition.
"They can't force David Warner to play in the BBL, I understand that, but to let him then go off – or another player, let's not single out Warner because there will be other players on the radar – it's all part of this global dominance that these IPL franchises are starting to create given they own a number of teams in the Caribbean Premier League.
"They own all six teams I believe in the new South African tournament that's coming up, which will be locking horns for commercial space and airtime with the Big Bash. It's getting a little bit dangerous the grip that it's having to monopolise that ownership and the ownership of the players and their talents and where they can and can't play.
