CA trying to fix BBL:
“Cricket Australia is set to permanently jettison white-ball internationals out of January in a desperate attempt to save the dying Big Bash League.
But the long-term rescue plan, which will guarantee the unprecedented availability of Australian stars for a large chunk of the tournament, can’t kick in until 2024 – leaving CA in a perilous position heading into a BBL season broadcasters are telling them
will make-or-break the next TV rights deal.
As it stands, CA is powerless to change three ODIs against South Africa scheduled for the middle of January next summer, as well as an Australian Test team likely leaving for India before the BBL finals.
It is a scheduling double blow which once again
decimates the star power of the competition in a summer where the heat is on like never before to deliver with only two summers to run on the current $1.8 billion TV deal with Channel 7 and Fox Sports.
As revealed by News Corp last month, the
BBL has lost on average 450,000 viewers per game since 2016 and has been in decline for six consecutive years on Channels 10, 7 and Fox Sports.
But the billion dollar question is will it be too late to save cricket’s next TV rights deal from disaster?
Even if they stick with Test cricket, Channel 7 has no interest in bidding again for the BBL, and there is no sign Channels 10 or 9 would be interested in weighing in.
It’s estimated the BBL represents up to $80 million of the $186 million Channel 7 and Fox Sports are paying each year for the cricket rights – but that figure is in grave danger of shrinking dramatically and closer to the $20 million a year Channel 10 had it for in the previous TV deal.”
Shorten the season, again, to start with.