Last Updated on 47 minutes ago by Charbel Coorey
Cricket Australia (CA) will proceed with its Big Bash League (BBL) privatisation plan despite opposition from major states. New South Wales and Queensland have long-standing concerns with CA’s plan, but the board is expected to announce the decision on Tuesday.
Earlier this year, the Australian Cricketers’ Association (ACA) declined to support the current framework. According to ABC News, CA and ACA still have details to sort out, with the latter negotiating a greater revenue share for the players and that the long-term interests of the game are protected.
According to Tom Morris’ report for 7 News, the ACA are negotiation a 33% share of revenue to go to the players, up from 27% currently. However, the states have rejected this, claiming the players will get more from privatisation anyway and less would go to grassroots cricket as a result.
Despite these challenges, CA have now moved to push the motion, which would give states the all-clear to sell a 49% stake in their BBL franchise.
Huge shake up in cricket down under: Cricket Australia BBL privatisation plan to go ahead
CA’s decision to press ahead without the full support of New South Wales and Queensland risks further hampering the relationship. It is something CA CEO Todd Greenberg is aware of.
“It’s a very emotional business, and most of the staff, stakeholders, people you deal with get very emotionally connected to decisions you make,” he said on Monday.
Greenberg is on record multiple times saying CA must provatise the BBL to compete with competing leagues. There are also reports that the Pakistan Super League (PSL) could move to January, which puts another league in direct competition with the BBL.
“So on private capital, the concept is that there are global T20 leagues popping up all over the world. They’ve got significant funds; they’re paying players significant amounts of money. If we want to compete, we’ve got to be in that conversation,” he told The Grade Cricketer Podcast in January.
“Because otherwise what happens is your sport gets further away from having the best players. You talked about the best Australian players; 100%, you’re right, but we also want the best players globally to see us as a league they want to play in.”
However, Cricket NSW argues that privatisation alone is not the answer to CA’s quest for long-term financial stability. It argues that structural reform is crucial to ensuring CA’s future financial viability.
Also, CA’s decision to effectively tax states that sell their franchises later is likely to cause further friction. This means that those states would be required to give a sum to the states that sell their stakes at the first opportunity.
Under CA’s privatisation plan, states can explore selling their stakes immediately, with the hope of completed transactions in time for the BBL 2027/28 season. According to reports, potential buyers will travel to Australia to catch this year’s action.
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