In an ideal world, Otago would be hosting Saturday's twenty20 final at the University Oval.
History and tradition demand the best team should get the opportunity to host the final and the Volts earned that right by winning the round-robin stage.
In the normal course of events, the Otago Cricket Association would be gearing up for the event and hoping for a big pay day.
Otago's loyal supporters would be rewarded with a chance to see their team play at home.
And the wider business community would benefit by the extra people the match would bring into the city.
Well, forget it. You all miss out. Hamilton is hosting the final.
Television demands it and New Zealand Cricket and the six major associations all agreed to it, including Otago cricket.
OCA chief executive Ross Dykes is not about to start complaining.
While he would have loved the opportunity to host the final, the tournament is expensive to run and compromises were inevitable.
A deal between NZC and Sky Television was struck to provide Friday and Saturday night cricket and the agreement included the finals series being staged in Hamilton, regardless of which three teams made it through.
''In all fairness, we were all party to this decision before the beginning of the season that the HRV Cup was going to get an injection of capital from Sky to provide Friday and Saturday night cricket to fill their viewing hole that they have after ITM Cup rugby,'' Dykes said.
''We were all very much aware of what was happening and it was an experiment worthwhile doing. It will clearly be reviewed at the end of the season but we went in with our eyes open.
''Cricket around the world, and not just in New Zealand, has become very dependent on television money. Television money is the biggest source of income for cricket and we have to be conscious of the fact it provides us with the wherewithal to pay professional cricketers.''
The six major associations are reliant on grants from New Zealand Cricket to fund the elite programme.
That money mostly comes from TV rights.
But for everything else, the major associations have to find other streams of revenue and gate takings from home games are important.
Otago has had a dismal run with the weather this season.
Of its five home T20 fixtures, only the game in Alexandra on December 27 brought in a good crowd.
The four Dunedin games were all affected by poor weather. Two were abandoned.
''We have not assessed it but my best guess is we are probably $60,000 down in terms of gate-takings, pourage, and what you might make out of fine weather games.
''We get dragged back a little bit by the fact the major associations have a combined insurance policy, where if you have more than one rained out game there is insurance cover. We've had two, so there is some money to be clawed back there.''
