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Cape Town - Cricket South Africa (CSA) remain hopeful that they will secure a new sponsor for this season's domestic T20 competition.
This comes after the tournament's previous sponsor, RAM Hand-to-Hand Couriers, and CSA could not agree new terms for a renewed deal in 2016.
RAM had been the title sponsor of the tournament since 2013, but Executive Director (Legal & Commercial) Alan Da Costa told Sport24 back in January that the company was considering its future dealings with the competition due to the match fixing scandal that erupted at the beginning of the year.
"We are hopeful that CSA is taking every measure to comprehensively investigate the allegations and enforce a 'Zero Tolerance' approach," Da Costa said at the time.
"However no one ever wants their brand associated with any dishonest activities and we are seriously considering the outcome of the matter before renewing our sponsorship."
The scandal first saw Gulam Bodi banned for 20 years before further bans were handed out to Thami Tsolekile (12 years), Jean Symes (7 years), Pumelela Matshikwe (10 years) and Ethy Mbhalati (10 years).
Just how much of a role the whole mess played in the negotiations between RAM and CSA is unclear, but CSA's commercial leg is working tirelessly to secure a new sponsor before the tournament begins.
An official from CSA told Sport24 that the organisation was doing all it could and that there was sufficient time to find a replacement sponsor.
The competition begins on November 12.
Should nothing materialise before then, it would not be the first time that a domestic competition has taken place without a title sponsor.
Before the introduction of Momentum in 2012, the One Day Cup endured a sponsor-less season in 2011/12 following MTN's partnership with the tournament.
But the T20 competition is considered the most lucrative commercially for South African domestic cricket, and securing a sponsor will surely be a matter of urgency considering the possible expansion of the tournament.
CSA has announced its intentions to carry out a "re-positioning" of the tournament, with a possible extension to eight teams and a move towards a more global product the vision for 2017/18.
