Big Bash to be Not So Big?

Players back pay cut for shorter BBL.

Ben Horne.

Sydney Daily Telegraph.

Monday, 2 March 2020.

PTG 3041-15056.

Australia’s domestic cricketers have declared they’re prepared to take a collective pay cut to shorten the length of the Big Bash League (BBL) season.  A survey of BBL players has revealed 70 per cent of the playing group believe there are too many games in the season and senior figures have indicated they’d be willing to hand back cash to Cricket Australia (CA) to make it happen.  

It is highly unlikely CA would entertain the idea of culling the season from 14 games per team, but if the option was put on the table at a post-season review, the players are saying they don’t want to be an obstacle for it to happen.  “There was a mechanism when it went up to 14 games that pulled down some funds (into the salary cap) that were from the end of the [CA-Union Memorandum of Understanding] agreement,” said Australian Cricketers Association (ACA) chief executive, Alistair Nicholson.

“Some of the senior players were going well, if we need to, for the good of the competition, go back down [in funds], well that’s something we’d be happy to do.  We would have to work that through with [CA], but the obvious way would be to reverse the mechanism that unlocked those funds. I don’t think that’s necessarily on the table. I don’t think it will go back down from 14 games to 12, but players have been consistent [the season is too long] and [CA] know that. We’ve been vocal about that the last few years".

According to Nicholson, “Some of the players are saying, well if it needs to go down then [taking pay cuts in salary cap] is something we could potentially look at. The point is the players are going, ‘what’s the best shape of this tournament?’ And if it does need to go down (in matches), players are not necessarily wanting to be the barrier to that”.

Broadcasters don’t believe CA would entertain the idea of shortening the season from 14 matches, although they wouldn’t necessarily be against it if they did: as long as they were compensated financially for losing matches out of the 59-game deal.  Former Channel 10 executive David Barham is set to conduct a review into the BBL and how it can improve in the coming weeks, with the players’ association arguing it’s reached crunch time for the competition to work out what it is (ptg 3038-15044, 26 February 2020).

Nicholson said: “It’s nine years old, it’s now entering the next key phase, and is it just an entertainment product, or is it a serious cricket competition?”

An analysis of this conundrum by the ACA’s survey of 85 per cent of male BBL players, also found that 90 per cent believe DRS needs to become part of the Big Bash, if it is to be a serious league.  In the most interesting response, players were also mixed over whether they thought CA’s new finals’ system was a success. CA went to a five-team finals system, but more than 50 per cent of players surveyed would prefer a four-team playoff system for the eight-team competition.

Under a top-four proposal, players would support the top two teams to play off for the right to go straight into the final, with the loser of that match to play the winner of three versus four. Meanwhile, the players’ union is against a push to open the doors for more international stars in the BBL.  

“Opening up for a third overseas player is not necessarily going to pull in a highly quality overseas player”, Nicholson said.  “Even the second contracted overseas players, obviously they’re bringing a few different skills but they’re not superstars.  Opening the third one up, I don’t know whether that’s necessarily feeding into the crux of the problem. What we’re saying is, ‘is that really the problem or is it more about the length or scheduling?”

Crowds down, but there are other ways to measure BBL’s success.

Richard Hinds.

ABC Radio
Friday, 24 January 2020.

PTG 3008-14907.

As an arch-traditionalist who greeted the introduction of Cricket Australia's Big Bash League (BBL) rather like blacksmiths welcomed the invention of the horseless carriage, I'm looking forward to attending the Melbourne Stars-Brisbane Heat at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Saturday night.  If you put aside your prejudices and admit the very-limited-overs form of the game has something, then this game appears to have just about everything.

The Stars are perched on top of the table after a season in which the ballistic duo Glenn Maxwell and Marcus Stoinis have been as threatening to the bucketheads in row WW  of the stands as to anyone on the field.  The much-hyped Heat have underperformed to a such a degree they risk missing the finals, but now feature the second-best AB to sign a professional cricket contract in Queensland — AB de Villiers.

The South African adds his reputation — and hopefully his vast ability — to that of renowned brutalist Chris Lynn, while the great accumulator Marnus Labuschagne is back from Test duty and an Indian sojourn.  It is not even a great concern to we purists that Matt Renshaw, Test centurion and, briefly, the poster boy of dour openers everywhere, will appear for the Heat in his new guise as an opening bowler and T20 specialist.  If you love someone you have to set them free; even if that freedom entails the odd slog sweep.

On reputation alone this is a match-up that might once have been predicted to challenge the all-time BBL record attendance of 80,883 for the Melbourne derby four Januaries ago.  That night of the clicking turnstiles came in the midst of a landmark season when the average BBL crowd was 30,114 and the competition took an iron grip on the sporting summer.  On Saturday night, however, the expectations are more modest, which might be presented as evidence by those currently prosecuting the case that the BBL is in decline.

Under the headline 'BBL Crowds Down For A Third Straight Season” (PTG 3004-14888, 22 January 2020), the 'Sydney Morning Herald' reported this week that the BBL had an average attendance of 17,921 for its 46 games — 40 per cent less than in those halcyon days of 2016/17.  News Corp used similar figures to argue the BBL had a "viewership crisis”.  As BBL management was quick to point out, those per-game figures are somewhat misleading given the increase in games in the past two seasons has meant total attendances remained similar while several games have been played in regional cities with smaller venues.

Condensing the fixture this season in response to concerns about last season's eternal BBL summer has also created some problems, including more games in the less popular pre-Christmas time slots and early start times for the first games of TV double-headers.  While total attendance is down 6.76 per cent on last season, crowds in capital cities have increased slightly and the overall numbers remain strong.

For all that, you can make a case that the BBL live audience has reached a peak. Albeit at a level that has vastly exceeded the initial expectation of those in Australian cricket who thought T20 cricket was the kind of lark where you put nicknames on the back of shirts and give Rugby League players a game.  If so, the competition's next challenge is to ensure the massive gains are entrenched and that the apparent peak does not precede a trough.

The reported drop in average per-game BBL crowds will no doubt raise the eyebrows of those football fans who have seen Australian soccer's A-League's reputation tarnished, sometimes unfairly, as attendances gradually dwindled.  The combination of pent-up demand, novelty value and initially strong marketing drove the A-League's exciting early seasons until some self-inflicted wounds, including Football Federation Australia's (FFA) untimely distraction with the 2022 World Cup bid, left the competition badly under-promoted even as the standard of play rose.

But if the BBL has also lost a bit of its early lustre, it remains the strong prime-time TV presence that, with Tests and one-day internationals, formed part of a cricket package that fetched a whopping $A1.182 billion (£UK616m) rights deal.  Another factor contributing to the A-League's stagnation has been the inability to connect the game's vast grass roots with the top local tier, something the FFA's new guard have accepted as their greatest challenge.

With the BBL there is at least anecdotal evidence the league, and the format, has not usurped "traditional cricket" as some feared but has instead become an organic part of the game's ecosystem.  Over the summer we encountered in our local club's nets several youngsters who had given the game away in previous years to pursue different sports or because they had simply fallen out of love with the game emulating the feats of the previous night's BBL game.

At the same time you will find others who were initially attracted to play thanks to the BBL rapidly come to appreciate the longer forms of the game once they have progressed through the ranks.  Similarly, T20 cricket is being slowly inserted into club cricket as a time-friendly alternative to longer one- and two-day games, although not at the expense of those formats. This might in turn keep more people in the game.

Thus the BBL, and T20 as a whole, is adding to the game rather than merely taking a slice of some finite cricket pie, notwithstanding its arguably overstated place in the already crowded international schedule.  Which, other than a healthy does of Maxwellmania and some unrequited feelings for Renshaw, could explain why a once T20-resistant traditionalist is looking forward to a night at the BBL.  Even if the crowd figures have peaked, the format once portrayed as a threat to the game as we knew it is now instead merely one important part of it.

More BBL scheduling headaches await CA.

Andrew Wu.

Sydney Morning Herald.

Thursday, 23 January 2020.

PTG 3005-14892.

Cricket Australia (CA) is facing another potential Big Bash League (BBL) scheduling dilemma next austral summer with the return of One Day International (ODI) cricket at home in January placing an extra squeeze on what will be a milestone tournament.  Battling diminishing crowds for a third straight season (PTG 3004-14888, 22 January 2020), the BBL is set to contend with six ODIs against powerhouse India and World Cup finalist New Zealand slated for the second and fourth weeks of 2021 after the Sydney Test ends in the first week of the year.

Having the national men's team back in action during the height of the summer holidays will be a double edged sword for CA after the anomaly of this season where there were no international fixtures in January after the Sydney Test.  The two bilateral series will place more strain on an already crowded schedule and further dilute the talent in the BBL with the unavailability of Australia's best limited-overs players, possibly through to the end of January.

Criticised last summer over the length of the tournament, CA scheduled more double-headers so they could shorten this summer’s BBL09 by a week.  They were able to do this with just the one clash with the men's ODI side - last Sunday with the Brisbane Heat and Melbourne Renegades' game at the Gabba.  Given CA's preference not to have the national men's side competing with the BBL, they will have an extra three nights not available to them, which means a clash somewhere is inevitable unless the season is extended.

The overlap may happen within the BBL with some matches possibly to run concurrently in a similar manner to that of the Australian Football League, which has different start times for afternoon and evening games on Saturdays.  This, however, would need sign off from their TV partners, who signed a $A1.182 billion (£UK616m) rights deal.

More matches in the afternoon will not help CA arrest the slide in crowds which has taken place since the high point of 2016-17. Adelaide, in particular, have suffered with their two night games this season attracting an average crowd of 34,861 compared to 21,673 for their three afternoon matches.  There is, however, an acceptance among franchises they must make scheduling sacrifices for the greater good of the national men's team.

CA has already begun looking at next season's domestic fixture but is yet to consult the states and franchises.  The latter two entities recently completed a survey in which they were asked general questions over their views on the direction and purpose of the BBL.  The findings are set to be discussed at meetings of the state chief executives and the BBL general managers in March.

Next austral summer's event will be a landmark for the BBL, which will be celebrating its 10th year.  The inception of the city-based league has dramatically changed the staging and consumption of cricket in this country and given CA a significant extra stream of revenue.  "We'll be appropriately recognising the milestone. Ten years into a new league is not a small feat in anyone's language which CA, the clubs and state associations are really proud of”, BBL boss Alistair Dobson said.

One thing for certain is that BBL10 will be vastly different to the inaugural tournament in 2011, which featured just 31 games - all played in major metropolitan venues.

BBL crowd numbers down for third straight season.

Andrew Wu.

Sydney Morning Herald.

Wednesday, 22 January 2020.

PTG 3004-14888.

Cricket Australia's (CA) move to make this season's Big Bash League (BBL) more family friendly for viewers has failed to arrest another decline in crowds with numbers set to drop for a third consecutive summer.  But the governing body said the decrease had been expected after it condensed this season's schedule in order to fit the home and away rounds within the school holidays in response to criticism a year ago.

There has been an average of 17,921 fans across the first 46 games of BBL09, down 11.5 per cent on the corresponding stage of the 2018-19 edition, and 12.8 per cent overall.  The numbers have plummeted 40 per cent from the bumper 2016-17 season, when CA was revelling in the Twenty20 tournament being among the United States National football League and the English Premier League in the world's top five competitions.

While some may use the dip in turnouts to attack the BBL, the league has still dragged more than 800,000 fans to a domestic competition - numbers which would be the envy of summer rivals the football’s A-League and the National Basketball League.

There has been a drop across nearly all the franchises with only ladder leaders Melbourne Stars recording a boost in average home crowds this season.  The return of Australia's international stars the week has come at an opportune time for cricket authorities, who are hoping the likes of Steve Smith, Josh Hazlewood and Marnus Labuschagne can inspire a late-season BBL spike.

CA has blamed the fall in numbers on the increased amount of games before Christmas, which is traditionally a harder time to attract fans, and afternoon fixtures, when more people are at work. The bushfire crisis and drought may also have kept fans away.  The BBL's seven pre-Christmas games last season drew an average of 17,757 as opposed to the 13,558 for 11 matches in the same period in BBL09 - a difference of 23.6 per cent.

The change in scheduling came after complaints from fans the BBL was running too long. This season's league finishes a week sooner, with 61 games across 54 days as opposed to 59 in 61- a change which CA said fans had welcomed. The numbers, however, indicate punters are not voting with their feet.  "To get the season away from a shorter period, we knew the flow-on effects would be those two; amongst other things”, BBL boss Alistair Dobson said.  "As we sit here right now, with a big long weekend of matches to come, some really big games at the back end of the season into what we think is a really exciting finals series, we're looking at attendances holistically and we'll have a close look at them at the end of the season”.

The drop this summer is more alarming when put against the mean of 30,114 in 2016-17 - numbers which CA conceded may never be repeated again.  The current season is now 14 rounds long compared to eight back then, with the increase in games enabling franchises to play more matches in regional venues with lower capacities than stadiums in the state capitals. CA said this move had been a success. The comparison to 2016-17, therefore, is not one of "apples and apples", CA said.

"The different-looking season with 56 games, proudly playing more regional games ... means we have a different view of what the most important metrics are”, Dobson said.  "We'll work closely with all our clubs and our venues to maximise the crowds. That's something the whole league is passionate about but it's a different dynamic with a different-looking season [2016-17]”.

CA headquarters in Melbourne was confident fans would embrace the final seven games of the home-and-away season to be staged across the country’s coming national Australia Day long weekend. As it stands, those matches all have a bearing on the finals, which features five teams as opposed to four.  The gap in Australia's international schedule means national players are available for the business end of the BBL, though star trio David Warner, Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins will not play as they have not signed contracts.  Smith will play his first BBL game for the Sydney Sixers in six years when he faces South African superstar AB de Villiers of the Brisbane Heat.

Officials are hoping for a crowd of about 26,000-30,000 for a match that will feature two of the game's modern batting greats on opposing sides.