Big Bash Attendances Crash

Big Bash League spectator, viewer numbers, fall.

Andrew Faulkner.

The Australian.

Saturday, 20 January 2018.

PTG 2326-11753.

The Australian nation’s long love affair with Twenty20 cricket has faded but the ardour for Tests and even the maligned One Day Internationals  (ODI) remains undimmed.  After six years of sustained and rapid growth the men’s Big Bash League (BBL) has plateaued, which is bad — though not unexpected — news for Cricket Australia (CA) as it contemplates further expanding the league in 2018-19.

A 12 per cent drop in attendances and a slight fall in TV ratings has given weight to perceptions that the BBL has achieved critical mass.  Expanding to a full home and away season next year — which is still being contemplated by CA — might be the point that tips the competition over the edge.

That would be good news for the Sheffield Shield, which is in danger of being shunted further into the shadows by its fast and flashy young relation. Going from 32 to 40 BBL games this austral summer appears to be as far as the competition can go, although there are mitigating factors to be read in concert with the lower attendances.

The novelty of fast cricket might have waned, but the nation still likes its cricket slow. So a highly successful Ashes — with every Test making a fifth day — has sucked numbers out of the BBL.  Fan discontent at marquee players being pulled to play for Australia — and the injury to competition pin-up Chris Lynn — might have also fed the downturn.

The big-drawing the Stars and Sixers have struggled this season, and the sweltering weather has also been a factor: 48,0000 turned up for the Stars-Renegades derby on a 42 C day when as many as 80,000 would have attended given milder conditions.  BBL TV ratings are also down, but only by about 4 per cent. Most of the drop-away has been in Victoria, which again is probably due to the Stars’ poor season. But the fall is from a high base — the BBL rates on average about a million viewers a match.

And the bigger picture remains bright. CA’s events and leagues manager Anthony Everard said CA was hoping overall attendances — for Tests, ODIs, the BBL and Women’s BBL — would top two million for the first time.  “We have been very pleased to see the strong appetite for cricket this summer from our fans, with our international fixtures and domestic competitions complementing each other and driving strong interest for the sport across the country”, Everard said.

He went on: “Impressive attendances at the women’s and men’s Ashes series, the growth of the WBBL, and the continued popularity of the BBL are propelling us towards a record-breaking summer in terms of crowds.  With the ODI series underway, T20 internationals (T20Is] still to come, and the BBL approaching finals time, we are hoping to surpass two million cricket attendees by the end of the season”.

Behind the bumper Ashes crowds, the summer’s biggest success story has been the WBBL. Attendances for the women’s T20 competition have topped 100,000, which is a 30 per cent increase on last year.  The WBBL is drawing an average of more than a quarter of a million viewers per game, which is 1.8 per cent up on last year.  The Sydney Sixers versus Sydney Thunder WBBL game at the SCG last weekend drew a record WBBL attendance of 16,380.

Crowds for all elite cricket are up by about 15 per cent so the perception that the BBL is propping up the other formats is actually a misconception — this summer, at least, it’s the other way around.  The BBL’s lower crowds and ratings might stymie CA’s expansion plans but much depends on the new TV rights deal to be struck this year.  If the new telecaster wants to press on with the growth plan then its view might prevail.  And if that happens then next summer’s cricket calendar will be even more crowded than usual.

CA would have to shoehorn an expanded BBL into a schedule comprising all of the following: an away ODI/T20I series against Pakistan, a home ODI/T20I series against South Africa, the domestic one-day tournament — which is continuing in carnival form next summer — four Tests against India, two Tests against Sri Lanka, more ODIs and T20s against Sri Lanka, and an away Test series against Pakistan. Then there’s the Sheffield Shield.

As usual the Shield series, the finishing school for Australian Test players is last in the list of scheduling priorities.  There is talk the Shield openers might be brought forward to September, before even the domestic one-day tournament.  Weather and ground availability problems could be solved by playing in Darwin, Cairns, Townsville and Alice Springs.  So an expanded BBL might mean no Shield cricket from early December until late February.

Compare and contrast that with the land of the Indian Premier Leaguer (IPL). India’s Ranji Trophy packs 84 four-day, first-class, games into an intense bloc of 54 days — followed by quarter, semi and grand finals. India’s IPL might be the pinnacle of the T20 world but the world’s current number one Test nation still invests heavily in its future Test stars.