Too Much of a Good Thing - BBL

 

Saving the Big Bash could cost CA millions.
Malcolm Conn.
Sydney Morning Herald.
Tuesday, 1 February 2022.

Cricket Australia (CA) would be forced to give up millions of dollars in TV rights to shorten the men’s Big Bash League (BBL) season and make it more attractive for the next broadcast deal in two years. Reducing the number of games and attracting more star players shape as the main priorities for a competition that lost its lustre even before being severely hampered by Covid-19.

The fiasco of Steve Smith not being able to play for the Sydney Sixers during this year’s finals will also prompt a major revision of the Big Bash’s priorities. CA’s head of Big Bash Alistair Dobson said administrators had “heard the commentary”. He said: “Coming off two years of Covid disruption is going to give us an opportunity to take a good, close look at all those elements and work out what’s the best-looking BBL for the future”.

With a strong consensus that there are too many matches, each team could have the current 14 home and away games reduced to as few as 10. There will also be a major review of the contracting rules after Smith, an eleven-year Sydney Sixers player and former captain, was refused permission to play in the finals. The injury and illness-ravaged side was instead forced to pick club players.

“There’s lot of innovation that can be looked at around contracting and we see a lot of that around the world”, continued Dobson. “We’ve spoken about the possibility of an overseas player draft. I think that has the potential to contract the best possible players where that’s bringing a bit more profile and entertainment to the players who are brought in but also the way in which they’re contracted. There’s also been a lot of discussion around Australian contracted players and how they’re aligned and contracted to BBL teams. That’s something we’ll look closely at".

“You always want every possible big-name player playing in the BBL in a way that is fair and equitable and available to all the clubs. I think overseas player contracting and those big-name Australian players are probably going to take up a fair chunk of that [review] time”.

Reducing the length of the season would make the BBL more attractive to overseas stars, but it would also cost millions of dollars in television rights to lose so many matches. However, BBL ratings are down about 30 per cent this season while ratings for men’s Test matches, women’s internationals and the Women’s Big Bash League are all up. If CA does not act now to turn BBL matches into events, as they were at the competition’s peak, the losses will be far greater when the next television rights deal is signed in two years, according to multiple sources.

When the previous broadcast deals were done four years ago with Fox Sports and Channel Seven, it was estimated the Big Bash made up as much as 45 per cent of the value. That has slipped significantly and continues to fall.

Dobson would not speak about details of CA's $1.18 billion (£UK646m), six-year rights deal, which has only two years to run, because of commercial in-confidence and said there was no easy or quick fix. “It’s never as simple as one solution or another”, Dobson said. “There are a lot of different elements. As we work through that process with the broadcasters and clubs and all those involved, those kinds of questions will come up”.

When the BBL had just eight games for each club, average crowds were as high as 34,000 and ratings were a million a night. More than a million people started coming through the gate each season. However, when a full home and away round was introduced four years ago, giving each team 14 games, overall attendances barely moved, slashing the average crowds and robbing matches of their event feel. Many of the fans and their families would go to one or two matches a tournament, whether there were four home matches or seven.

“It’s become just another cricket competition”, said one BBL club executive. “It’s not just about winning games of cricket. It’s about entertaining people and attracting new fans so they have a fun night out and want to come again. The BBL has lost that”.