The grand prize money shot

Never mind the escalating cost of television rights – what is also growing is the prize money for Twenty20 domestic competitions.

The CLT20 offers US$6 million prize money, not too shabby for some players who have never donned an international cap in any format of the game. Let's see how these domestic competitions match up with each other financially and whether domestic cricketers are happy to stay where there are.

CLT20 - The tournament offers teams US$6 million of prize money. The prize money, including US$3 million for the winning team, which will be shared equally between the teams and their players.

Standford Twenty20 - Total prize money US$20 million. The 11 players on the winning team each received US$1 million. The reserve players in the squad shared US$1m. A further US$1m was divided among the management team. The remaining US$7m was split equally between the West Indies Board and the ECB.

Indian Premier League - Rajasthan Royals took home just over US$1 million for winning the inaugural final in Bombay earlier this year.

2008 Twenty20 Cup final in England - Middlesex earned US$12,000 per player for beating Kent at the Rose Bowl.

2008 RBS Twenty20 cup in Pakistan - The competition had 13 teams gunning for a winners' prize money of US$32,500 which eventually went to the Sialkot Stallions.

2008 KFC Twenty20 Big Bash - Victoria Bushrangers snared up US$20,000 between them, while the runner-up received US$10,000.

Needless to say the cricketers will be as curious about how many green tracks are laid to the amount of green they could potentially pocket at the end of the tournaments. Because of the booming cricket economy (amidst the world's economic downturn) sustained by huge viewership and sponsorship deals, Twenty20 domestic cricket is the way to go forward. The cover drive induced by their drive for the prize money, the pull shot becomes the money shot.

So with potential international call ups and big cash cows in tow, we can only expect to see as many runs and wickets as dollar bills flying at the upcoming CLT20. The growth of cricket is centering around an exciting theory, fewer overs sprouts more money.