Last Updated on 4 years ago by Charbel Coorey

Cricket News: “More seagulls than fans!” Very low crowd in BBL 11 at MCG | Just over 5,000 fans turn out to watch double header at MCG

The Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) recorded its lowest ever crowd for a Big Bash League (BBL) match, with just 5,802 fans attending the double header involving Sydney Thunder, Hobart Hurricanes, Adelaide Strikers and Melbourne Stars.

Also, this is the second-lowest crowd for a Stars home game overall, sitting behind the 3,272 that attended the Stars-Scorchers match at Junction Oval on January 2.

The COVID-19 pandemic has no doubt had a profound impact on the competition with numerous players from Sydney Thunder, Brisbane Heat, Melbourne Stars and Adelaide Strikers required to isolate after testing positive to the virus. Also, fans may be discouraged from attending due to the thousands of cases particularly in Sydney and Melbourne.

However, the BBL has been on a decline somewhat in recent years, and fans and pundits pointed this out on social media. One user said, “The BBL is dying a slow death. Feels like it needs a dedicated window where all of Australia’s top players play, at the very least. No idea how that fits within the international calendar though.“

The lack of quality on display due to absence of both Australian and international talent is glaring, as well as the large number of games after Cricket Australia (CA) made the call a few years back to have a full home and away BBL season.

After Joe Clarke led the Stars to an important win in what seemed like a match behind closed doors, another fan responded to the crowd announcement tweeting, “Can’t just blame covid, past few years it was always going down to this level! If you were a player, how could you get excited. Executives got greedy and lost sight of what made it great. Now we hardly have big name players and overall, zero excitement“

CA has been flexible in keeping the tournament going amid the COVID chaos. The tournament is now based in a Melbourne hub to reduce the risk of spreading the virus among franchise players and staff.

While CA should be commended for keeping BBL 11 going, there may very well be a review at the end of the season to determine how to recapture the past magic of a competition that saw a crowd in excess of 85,000 for a Melbourne Derby in 2016.

COVID-19 is a barrier, but attendances to the Ashes Test matches suggest that fans are willing to witness sport live, but the product must be of greater value. New rules such as Bash Boost points and power surges may create some talking points, but a return to the core BBL roots may need to be of utmost priority for CA going forward.

Record low MCG crowd for BBL match