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Players set to call for shorter BBL season.
Jon Pierik.
Melbourne Age.
Saturday,23 February 2019.
PTG 2736-13673.
BBL marquee fund ‘under consideration’ by CA.
Players are set to push for a shorter Big Bash League (BBL) tournament next year as part of their review of the Twenty20 tournament. The Australian Cricketers Association (ACA) is conducting its annual post-competition survey, which includes playing conditions, venues and the quality of umpiring. The length of this year's BBL, which ran for eight weeks and finished last weekend, three weeks after the Australian school year began, became an issue with attendances and ratings slipping, the latter by six per cent on last season.
Last weekend's final between the Melbourne Stars and Melbourne Renegades had solid ratings, with Channel Seven enjoying an audience of 877,000 for the second session during the Renegades' thrilling comeback and 1.1 million for the post-game analysis, according to Media Week. Fox Sports had an audience of 342,000, although this could have been higher had the match been scheduled at night.
There have been few issues with the decision to introduce a full home-and-away campaign of 59 matches - and this will remain under the broadcasting arrangement - but it was how the matches were spread that became an issue. Players had privately complained about fatigue early in the new year, particularly after many had played six Sheffield Shield matches. They would rather more double- and even triple-headers were scheduled in the BBL, so the tournament condenses and could end in the first week of February. The ACA, or players’ union, has a role on CA's scheduling committee, where the players' responses can be delivered.
BBL chief Kim McConnie has said a review is underway but CA has made it clear it wants to have a strong presence in February, when the football codes ramp up their pre-season presence. CA is currently working through next austral summer's domestic and international fixtures, where Test stars may have more of a BBL presence with five home Tests slated - one less than this year.
Broadcasters Seven and Fox Sports, which have a combined $A175 million (£UK95.6m) per season investment in the competition, want more local and international star power but that remains a tough sell because of the salary cap, which was $A1.77m (£UK966,665) this season, and the fact the BBL season is held at the same time as the Bangladesh Premier League, where key players are said to pocket an average of $A300,000 (£UK163,840). That imports leave the BBL mid-tournament for overseas T20 competitions or international commitments has added to the frustration (PTG 2733-13659, 20 February 2019).
Seven and Fox Sports were named as cricket's new broadcasters in April last year, and had much to quickly organise aside from generating pre-season promotions. The lack of hype was seen as a factor by some teams in a flat start to the tournament. Seven chief Tim Worner has said his network will be able to do more in this area heading into what will be the BBL’s ninth season in 2019-20.
Fox Sports.
Tuesday, 19 February 2019.
PTG 2733-13659.
A marquee fund aimed at luring Twenty20’s biggest names to the Big Bash League (BBL) is reportedly under consideration by Cricket Australia (CA). The fund would be separate to the league’s salary cap of $A1.77 million (£UK970,270), allowing franchises with the available money to spend big on the likes of AB de Villiers and Andre Russell. Those names have recently forsaken the BBL for rival competitions, such as the Bangladesh Premier League and Pakistan Super League, which are offering internationals far greater earning power.
More is Less for the Big Bash (Spectators)
By national sport editor David Mark for ABC News 11/02/19
...The Big Bash League expanded this year by an extra 16 games with a new broadcast deal, but as the competition has drawn on, punters have voted with their feet and eyeballs. Yes, it's still the summer behemoth, but the competition has clearly lost its lustre.
Crowd figures this season are down almost 20 per cent at an average of 21,000 per match, compared to 26,000 last year and 30,000 the season before.
The average BBL television audience this season, since broadcast rights went to Fox Sports and Seven, is down on last season. Fox Sports has been averaging 195,000, per game, while on Seven it's been 694,000.
Last year, Network Ten was averaging 969,000 viewers per match.
Steve Allen, an analyst from Fusion Media, described the broadcast figures for this summer's cricket as "awful".
Cricket Australia is talking up the coverage of its new broadcast partners but has acknowledged there are problems with its golden goose and hasn't ruled out making changes to the BBL fixture list.
"We were very aware that growth would plateau with the number of matches being increased. As we do at the end of each season, we will review the feedback and experiences of fans, players and officials and assess what makes sense for the sustainability of our great game," a spokesman said in a statement.
One Day Internationals were once the jewel in cricket's crown. But this season, both One Day and T20 Internationals have gone exclusively to pay TV which has seen viewing numbers decline dramatically.
For example, 282,000 people watched this season's final ODI on January 18 on Fox Cricket — just 25 per cent of the 1.13 million that watched the same match last year on Channel Nine.
"The sport administrators at the Big Bash League at Cricket Australia should really take a cold shower and have a long look at themselves, because they're about to ruin One Day Internationals and the Big Bash League," Mr Allen said...
Full report: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-02-10/too-much-sport-ratings-attendance-cricket-football-basketball/10792710
I admit to a certain glee about this !
ReplyDeleteOne day the likes of Cricket Australia and the ECB might actually start to realise that if you want to keep your game in the public eye then at the very least some free to air cricket must be available.
ReplyDeleteFaced with myriad distractions most young children will automatically use what they have to hand, Which in most cases is there phone/tablet, Make cricket available on those platforms and at the very least you are giving them an option, Ok, initially they might not take it but we need to persevere, Because without fresh blood the game we all love will struggle to find a future...
'Zanga' - whilst you are correct the 100-ball Fiasco WILL have some free terrestrial coverage - but all that it will do is give entirely the wrong impression to young people about what cricket should really be like.
ReplyDeleteAttention spans being what they are and much as I hate to say it maybe the "100" might bè the hook that catches the prey,The hope then is that the hated "100" might lead onto a greater interest in other forms of cricket
ReplyDeleteGoodness knows we need to do something,Think of Trent Bridge on a championship day cricket,Look at the spectators and a very large majority are the wrong side of fifty,Fast forward a few yeàrs and you can see why we have a need to attract fresh blood into the sport
Maybe the "100" is not the answer,But in the absence of any other suggestions it's the best we have got at the moment
I've thought for some time that the dreaded hundred as us proper fans regard it may actually be a positive in as much as it will ensure, in theory at least, that sufficient finances come into the game to preserve what four day cricket we already have in place. Whether we like what Princess Pursestrings tells us or not, she gives it to us straight(well,most of the time anyway). A whole generation has been lost to the game due to, ironically, it being taken off terrestrial TV straight after the 2005 ashes series which gripped the nation. One of the reasons why crowds are bigger at T20 is they actually play it when most people can attend without having to risk taking leave from work and whatever the British weather throws at them. Whilst I have nil interest in the hundred and certainly will not attend any games my main concern is what is does to the Notts fixtures and the likely result that the club are happy to drag our loyal home support to the planet of Pluto each season(sorry, Gorse Lane)
DeleteSo 'Leader of the Pack' (which, by the way you aren't)and 'Zanga' when were the Notts Members balloted as to whether they agreed with the 100-ball knockabout? They WEREN'T - so you too are just following the wishes of the Committee and the County Chairmen and the ECB. To acquiese in the decision of the Notts Committee is nothing else than supporting it.
ReplyDeleteAs I remember it, the ECB objective originally, was to get more people playing cricket because the number of participants in the game had dropped drastically. The All Stars programme in conjunction with a new-nothing-old-county-orientated-T20-competition designed to excite the youth of the UK and to rival the IPL and the BBL, plus with coverage on free terrestrial TV was supposed to be the answer and to rescue cricket from obscurity and imminent extinction in England.
DeleteWhat we've got in 2020 with this Hundred is alienating existing cricket supporters, the ones that will be the initial audience figures on terrestrial or pay to view TV. The un-named teams are likely to have no natural fan base and draw upon a random collective of spectators brought to the grounds by cheap overly hyped tickets. Spectators that will be confused to the extreme if they had any prior knowledge of the rules or format of a game of cricket and if they hadn't they would have no appreciation of the high or otherwise standard of play that they are bearing witness to and so not be inspired to take up the sport because they won't know if what they've seen is worth trying to emulate. Money will have been wasted on paying the top appearance fees for domestic and overseas players to take part. Meanwhile, the existing game in its three formats is pushed to the margins further, crowds will suffer, advertising revenue will be reduced and county incomes will drop. Counties will wither once the £1.3M sweeteners stop.
If no one watches The Hundred games on TV, the schedulers will quickly sideline it, sticking it on increasingly remote channels, how soon for a Sky sports 4 or 5 channel or a red button on BBC 4. Has no one cottoned on yet, the youth don't watch traditional TV no more anyway - if it's not coming through their phone, that is constantly in their palms, as an alert or update, it doesn't exist!
The Hundred on the face of it is less likely to be cricket's saviour than it is to be it's eventual executioner.
Hello AndrewM1, you may possibly be missing my point slightly. Firstly, on previous posts someone gave me my new title above which I am now using in their honour(I am, and always will be the original Stonewall Jackson). On a more serious cricket point I am certainly not in favour of the new comp. and having sat with Zanga last year for a few games, I'm pretty certain as a genuine Notts CCC fan he won't be either. However, the game needs a new cash injection whether we want to accept it or not. Without this, will there be any red ball cricket at all ? Who wants to continually prop up a loss making business model? My argument is forget about it, just don't go, but,it may be that by putting up with it we still have our existing four day campaign, which is what we all want. Cricket is changing forever and if you invented it today you wouldn't play the longer version we all love, so anything that sustains it then the better even if I have no interest in it whatsoever.
DeleteOriginal? Thomas Jonathan "Stonewall" Jackson (January 21, 1824 – May 10, 1863) aka "Tom Fool"
Deleteand before you say it Stoney
Harry Butler Daft 5 April 1866 - 12 January 1945
Why does cricket need an injection of cash BTW? Counties have been a bit smarter lately. Give them £1.3M and they'll waste it on inflated salaries or building ruddy restaurants probably.
Yes, maybe, you could be right and they're learning after the Durham&Northants near disasters ? Perhaps it would be more accurate to say some counties rely on the injection of money(?)but I still stand by my point that if this new joke loosely classed as cricket, retains our 4 day game as it is, without further reduction in fixtures etc, do we just have to bite the bullet and accept it(even if we don't embrace it).........just putting my tin hat on now.
DeleteWell reasoned Dave G.
ReplyDeleteThe 100 ball Comp seems more complex than Brexit - and thats saying something . I wonder if the ECB are having any second thoughts about the new competition ?. A lot of comments about it seem pretty negative .But they are now probably too far down the road and too much is already in place and promised ?