SA20 Auction: Teams Allowed Up to Six Player Retentions Amidst Salary Cap Boost

SA20 Teams Can Retain Up To Six Players Ahead of Auction

The highly anticipated player auction for the fourth season of the SA20 is scheduled to take place in Johannesburg on September 9th. As teams gear up for the event, a significant increase in the salary purse to USD 2.3 million per team has been announced. A minimum of 72 slots across the six teams will be available.

Ahead of the auction, franchises are permitted to retain a maximum of six players. Each team can pre-sign players, with a limit of three being overseas players.

All the franchises will see an increase in the purse to USD 2.3 million © Sportzpics

Each franchise can include a maximum of seven overseas players in their 18-member squad. Teams must also reserve at least 11 spots for local players. Further adding to the strategy, a wild card signing is available to each of the six teams. This enables teams to sign either a South African or foreign player. The league fee of their 'wild card player' falls outside of the salary cap.

A key highlight of this year's auction is the introduction of the Right To Match (RTM) card. This allows a franchise the chance to match the winning bid for a player. To be eligible, the player must have played for the team in the previous season. The number of RTM cards each franchise receives will vary based on the number of South African players they have retained.

Notably, the upcoming auction will not include a Rookie Draft. Instead, franchises are required to sign at least two Under-23 players in their final 19-player squads. This places emphasis on teams finding young talent to develop.

Stephen Cook, Head of Cricket Operations at SA20, commented on the auction: "The SA20 Season 4 Player Auction is setting up to be the most exciting yet, with about 60% of player slots available for the franchises to fill. Mechanisms such as RTM cards, Wildcard players and an increased salary cap are sure to create interesting situations for teams and will allow them to strategically select their squads. We have seen some life-changing transactions already in the past few years and the upcoming auction should see plenty more."

Richard Madley will return as the auctioneer for the fourth season. The SA20 season is scheduled to begin on Boxing Day, December 26.