Cricket Australia (CA) is openly exploring outside investment in the Big Bash League, convinced fresh capital is the surest way to lift the competition to a clear-cut No.2 spot behind the IPL. Chief executive Todd Greenberg says the study, handled by the Boston Consulting Group (BCG), is only a first step and will not touch the Boxing Day or New Year’s Tests.
BCG’s brief was blunt: assess the current BBL model, sketch possible upgrades and, crucially, spell out whether part-privatisation could unlock real growth. Their findings landed on the CA board table last week. Most of the document will stay in-house; commercial detail is, Greenberg argues, “far too sensitive” to invite a full public download.
Still, the headline numbers pleased decision-makers. “Well that’s certainly the vision of everyone in cricket here in this country to make sure that we run a league and we run a T20 tournament that is sitting just beside or behind or adjacent to the IPL,” Greenberg told SEN radio. “It’s going to be very hard to chase the IPL, given the scale of cricket in India, but unashamedly, we want to run a league that comes second. And to do that we’re going to need to make sure that player availability and player salaries are commensurate with everything else that goes on around the world, and there’s one thing you need for that, you need money, you need investment.”
Right now every BBL club is 100 per cent CA-owned and run day-to-day by the state associations. That model has guaranteed smooth scheduling under the marquee Melbourne and Sydney Tests and given broadcasters a fixed summer story. Yet the global market is shifting. Twenty20 leagues in the UAE, the USA and South Africa already lean on private dollars to bid for players and eyeballs; CA risks being fenced in unless it moves.
Greenberg understands the tension. “We’d be naive if we weren’t asking ourselves these questions … Nothing has been decided at this point in time,” he said, before adding the league remains “in a very healthy position”.
Among BCG’s other nods is a later start date – the competition currently fires up in mid-December – though Greenberg won’t stamp any calendar changes until broadcasters and venues are satisfied. Quiet chatter, first aired by News Corp last weekend, even floated the idea that a later BBL could squeeze the New Year’s Test in Sydney. Greenberg flat-batted that suggestion, insisting the SCG fixture, like Boxing Day in Melbourne, is “untouchable.”
Next steps? CA will consult clubs, states and the players’ association through the spring. If the numbers stack up and the game’s powerbrokers keep faith in Shield and Test windows, a formal pitch to investors could follow. Equally, the board might decide the current set-up does the job and leave private ownership on ice. Either way, few doubt the BBL’s standing – and pay packets – must climb if Australia is serious about living in the IPL’s rear-view mirror.
