BBL Partial Privatization?
Cricket Australia Pushes on Despite Opposition from NSW
In a bizarre outcome, Cricket Australia has elected to push forward to the next stage of the BBL privatization despite the strong opposition of NSW Cricket. This could now result in some franchises being sold off and others remaining in the hands of state cricket authorities. NSW Cricket owns the Sydney Sixers and Sydney Thunder franchises which are amongst the marquee teams in the competition.
Despite Cricket Australia’s announcement, NSW Cricket remains defiant. They believe there are other ways to bring capital into the BBL without privatization and they are concerned about cricket in Australia being in the hands of investors. Although Cricket Australia is no doubt hopeful the pressure of a big payday will impact NSW Cricket’s thinking, they are currently indicating they will not participate.
So what does the future hold? Potentially Sydney Sixers versus the Mumbai Indians Perth in the final of the BBL! No prize for guessing which side of that contest will have all the crowd support.
Exactly. It is a crazy approach to adopt. It is even more crazy when you consider how much power NSW has in Australian cricket. The two most senior leaders at Cricket Australia came from NSW and are u likely to be in those posts long.
If the BBL goes half-private, it risks creating a split league where tradition and investor-driven franchises pull in completely different directions