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Find your frequency'Just wasn't convinced': Why NZC cooled on Major League Cricket opportunity
Alex Chapman • October 22nd, 2026 3:13 pm
Cricket generic | Photo: Photosport
New Zealand Cricket CEO Geoff Allott believes they "probably just simply weren't ready for the opportunity" of what was perceived by some as a controversial overseas partnership.
As first revealed by Sport Nation, the deal with Major League Cricket, which was to see NZC enter a team into the American T20 competition from 2027 has ended.
Speaking publicly for the first time since the confirmed decision, Allott explained to Sport Nation Mornings why they've parted ways with American company True North Sports Ventures (TNS).
"I think the relationship we've had with the TNS guys has been really strong and at no time had any sort of negativity or any negative reflection on either party.
"It was more, for me, a time where I had to come in obviously on the back of a fiscal result that wasn't satisfactory. We had to make some pretty tough decisions and then when I really looked at it and dug deep into it, we probably just simply weren't ready for the opportunity.
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"It's purely probably from my side of fact that it's a new CEO that's come in that just wants to sort of have a look at their own backyard before we march off and do anything on an international scale."
When announcing the agreement last April, NZC initially claimed that it would be a 'first of its kind agreement', with the national governing body to have direct investment as well as 'high performance and operational support'. That was to include “coaching, management and support staff, as well as integrating the franchise into NZC’s domestic high-performance system.”
Some were encouraged by the move, with players sharing on social media that it was a great step forward and celebrating that it will mean seeing more New Zealand players getting overseas opportunities and gain greater exposure in other competitions.
But as one player, who Sport Nation spoke to at the time on the condition of anonymity asked, “why not invest in the domestic game directly?”
Other players Sport Nation heard from pondered a similar question.
As one suggested; “it’d be good if they put that money into us domestic players and the game here", while another asked; “why an overseas league instead of us? Will there be a trickle down effect? Unsure.”
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Allott agrees that focusing and considering "other opportunities around investment in our own backyard" was a big factor in the decision, especially given NZC hadn't invested any capital.
"I just wasn't convinced, and I'm not saying that something might not happen in the future. We think there's huge opportunities in the US market.
"I felt that it was particularly important that we just stopped for a second, assessed our own position, did some work around our own internal systems to make sure that we truly understood the position we were in."
Allott said it will now allow them to focus on a local high-performance system that he maintains "punches above our weight internationally."
"As part of the free trade agreement with India, India specifically called sport into it because they wanted to understand how New Zealand full stop was so successful with sport and pulled that into the free-trade agreement.
"What I wanted to make sure is that we didn't compromise our own high performance system and that we truly understood what flexibility we had or what capacity we had in our own High Performance System before we went off and committed to a partnership that we would want to make sure that we were holding our own in that regard."
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