Tournaments without sponsors often have a funny ring to them. But with Ram Slam ditching the local T20 competition, that could be the likely scenario.After all, no brand wants to be associated with match-fixing, hence the dearth of cricket in Sharjah between April 2003 and February 2010 in the wake of the Hansie Cronje match-fixing scandal at the turn of the millennium.However, Cricket South Africa boast cash reserves in excess of R800-million, meaning a self-sustaining T20 tournament is not something far from their financial arms.story_article_left1While the tournament is set to remain in its franchise form when it starts on November 12 with a double header at the Wanderers between the Knights and the Cape Cobras and the Lions against the Titans, the success of Australia's Big Bash League has undoubtedly put CSA under pressure to have a similar tournament.Cricket Australia had a state-based tournament: the T20 Big Bash that ran from the 2005/06 season to the 2010/11 season from where CA took a bold step to move to a city-based franchise tournament.In the past two seasons, they have been reaping the rewards to a point where it runs concurrently with their prime test-match season in December and January while crowd numbers have not been affected.The England and Wales Cricket Board are also considering a move to an eight-team city-based T20 tournament to replace their unwieldy 18-team T20 blast.CSA chief executive officer Haroon Lorgat said the move to a city-based franchise T20 tournament is something for which they are still exploring their options.They are also not under pressure to find a sponsor for a tournament that starts in two months' time.story_article_right2"There are always questions when a sponsor is not automatically renewed, but it's in the nature of our business to assess sponsors from time to time which could result in changes. With the new league on the horizon, we were not able to agree terms on this occasion. However, RAM are still keen to remain involved in cricket and we continue our discussions with them. Fortunately, CSA is under no pressure to close any sponsorship deal for this year's event and we will only do so with the right partners," Lorgat said.With the world revolving around the Indian Premier League and test matches between India, England and Australia, getting the best players may not be easy even though the West Indian big guns have often availed themselves before going to the BBL.Lorgat admitted that scheduling is every country's major headache, but currency issues and player availability is not something that concerns them."It is only the early part of the tournament this year when our Proteas will be away in Australia. In future we have planned so that we do not have scheduling clashes that would prevent our best players from being available," Lorgat said."South Africa is an attractive cricket and tourist destination and, if you look at the past few years, we have been successful in attracting some of the biggest names in the world of cricket to South Africa."..