Yorkshire's finances will see little improvement if they qualify for the Champions League, according to executive chairman Colin Graves.
Cash situation won't improve with Champions League says Graves
Yorkshire's finances will see little improvement if they qualify for the Champions League, according to executive chairman Colin Graves.
The White Rose county will appear at the Friends Life t20 finals day for the first time in Cardiff on Saturday, taking on 2009 champions Sussex in the opening semi-final.
Victory in that match will not only send them through to the evening final but also qualify them for the riches of October's Champions League in South Africa, where the winners will earn $2.5million.
But Yorkshire have announced financial losses for the past two years - including a figure of £1.8million in 2010 that was inflated by the staging of the neutral Test between Pakistan and Australia.
And Graves has revealed that should Yorkshire progress the majority of prize money earned is set to go to the players and that the club would only likely break even.
Attractive offer
"We have made an attractive offer with the players to try and provide an added incentive for them," he said.
"The club will not be much better off should we qualify for the Champions League. We felt that this was the right decision given for the players.
"They have done an excellent job to get Yorkshire to their first-ever finals day. There is a real buzz about the place at the moment and they should be rewarded.
"We are not willing to disclose what percentage of the money the players have been offered is until we know whether we have qualified.
"Hopefully that happens and then we can talk about it and see what the players want to do."
Yorkshire's hopes have been boosted with confirmation that David Miller - who starred with the bat during a group stage that saw them beaten just the once - has been released by South Africa A to play.
Miller, who hit 271 runs at 38.71, flew in from South Africa A's tour of Ireland to join the team at a training camp in Bristol on Thursday night and the county are set to be further boosted when they arrive in the Welsh capital.
Success
Jonny Bairstow has been made available after he was left out of England's team for Friday's opening NatWest one-day international against South Africa at the SWALEC Stadium. A decision on Tim Bresnan's availability is set to be made on Friday evening.
Unlike Yorkshire, Sussex have enjoyed plenty of success in the shortest format, having won the competition in 2009 and reached at least the quarter-finals since.
The Sharks lost just once in reaching final day and will have added motivation to lift the trophy with veteran Michael Yardy likely to captain the side for the last time.
"It'll be a great way for him to finish the Twenty20 captaincy, if it is the finish for him," said Ed Joyce, who was handed the captaincy in the two other formats following Yardy's decision to stand down earlier this summer.
"There's still discussions about how we're going to go about next year if I'm not in the side for T20.
"He's definitely the right man for the job down there and it would be amazing if we could get the first piece of silverware in the cabinet for 2012."
