CSA has announced that the cheapest tickets to the upcoming T20 Challenge will cost as little as R1 as they look to fill stadiums and ‘create a vibe’.

CSA is hoping that giving away tickets virtually for free will result in full stadiums when the T20 carnival rolls into Potchefstroom.

With the most expensive tickets only costing R50, it is clear the organisation is focusing on creating a vibrant atmosphere rather than raking in as much cash as possible at the gates.

“We want to have fans in the stadium to create a vibe, and we really want students to attend the games,” Pholetsi Moseki, CSA CEO told ESPNcricinfo.

Most importantly, the strategy makes it possible for virtually all South Africans to attend.

“When Covid happened, we changed how we watched sport, and now it’s our task to change that mindset again,” Andrew Breetzke, SACA CEO told ESPNcricinfo. “Maybe one of the ways is to go down to R1 a ticket to get people to come to the grounds – especially students.”

The tournament will include eight Division One provincial teams with all 31 games being played in Potchefstroom.

There are no longer any Covid-19 restrictions in South Africa so a full house of 18,000 is possible for every single game.

However, part of the reason why tickets may be so cheap is because of how poorly domestic competitions, especially the CSA T20 Challenge, have been attended in recent years in South Africa.

Some feel that CSA is vastly undervaluing the competition by making tickets so cheap, but in the face of falling attendance and massive competition for fans’ short attention spans, the organisation thinks it is too late to worry about that.

“We might have passed that point with domestic cricket. And ultimately, this will become the secondary T20 competition in South Africa,” Breetzke said. “We’ve also got the T20 World Cup happening at the same time.”