Last Updated on 4 minutes ago by Charbel Coorey
Cricket Australia (CA) is set to introduce a marquee player pool of $1.375m for the Big Bash League (BBL). Each franchise can use this for four players, across domestic and overseas players.
CA and the Australian Cricketers’ Association (ACA) are close to sealing a new player pool to help fight off rival T20 leagues. The move comes as top domestic players have been left aggrieved by overseas imports earning up to $100,000 more a season.
CA and ACA close on finalising a deal for a BBL marquee player pool
Should the deal go through, each franchise will be required to pay at least one Australian player $360,000, as reported by CODE Sports. They also need to use one of the marquee slots on an overseas player.
The marquee player pool will see an end of the maligned player draft that saw overseas players earn more than domestic talent. Instead, each club can negotiate directly to sign players.
However, this pool could only be around for one season as CA pushes for BBL privatisation. Private investment would significantly increase the salaries of both local and domestic talent, putting the BBL on firmer ground against the heavily-backed SA20 and soon-to-be-launched NZ20.
CEO Todd Greenberg is very much in favour of privatisation, but CA is currently ironing out details with the ACA and states.
“I’ve got this sort of concept that you want things to happen to you, or do you want them to happen with you? And my fear for us is if we aren’t in this discussion and we’re not debating the merits of bringing private capital in, you get run over in a small country like Australia,” Greenberg said in January, as reported by CricBlog.
Perth Scorchers spinner Ashton Agar is in support of privatisation. He believes that such a move can put the BBL second to the IPL.
“I’m pro-privatisation. I think it’s heading that way. I think it’s inevitable, and I think that’s the way of the future. We want to be the best league in the world. Obviously, the IPL is probably hard to reach. You know, but to be the next best in line is something that’s really important,” he said.
Agar also said that private investors can bring ideas that can help cricket grow. He believes CA should look to tap into that.
“To have outside views, I think people can be afraid of that sometimes, but those outside views might be extremely intelligent. You might get access to some incredible people who help grow our game bigger and bigger and secure our spot as one of the great leagues in the world for many years to come. So I only see it as a positive.”
