Early moves are underway for Cricket Australia to downsize the Big Bash League from 61 games to 43 as soon as next season, a year before the new broadcast deal with Foxtel and Seven kicks in.
Such an outcome, meaning the tournament comes to an end around the January 26 long weekend, would open the door for numerous other Australian players to follow Chris Lynn and Marcus Stoinis in playing the UAE Twenty20 league afterwards.
Marcus Stoinis is off to the UAE league after the Melbourne Stars’ last game. Credit:Getty Images
All parties involved in the seven-year, $1.5 billion rights deal, spoken to by The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald, are open to the concept of cutting back the BBL as soon as next season, although the move would require some fresh negotiations.
Given the history of friction between Seven and CA over the scheduling of the BBL in previous, COVID-19 seasons, an agreement to depart from the letter of the existing broadcast contract would represent a step forward in good faith dealings.
The other possible hiccup to an early switch back to 43 games would be existing commercial deals between BBL clubs and their corporate partners, predicated on seven home games per team as opposed to four or five.
Stoinis, who signed with Sharjah Warriors for the ILT20 League this week, reached terms with the franchise on the basis that the Melbourne Stars look to be out of contention for the BBL finals, with their last game to be played on January 25.
The ILT20 runs from January 15 to February 13, with CA and other international boards eager to ensure it does not take up too much room in what is already an extremely squeezed global calendar.
“It’s a massive opportunity for me personally to notch up some crucial play time at a tournament like this in the UAE ahead of a busy year that’s going to be full of cricket,” Stoinis said of his move.
“These are extremely exciting times for international franchise cricket, and I am glad to be playing a part of a team like Sharjah Warriors in the league’s history-making inaugural edition.”
Lynn had earlier threaded the needle between CA and the UAE league by reaching terms to play 11 games for the Adelaide Strikers and then travel to the ILT20.
That move had been preceded by multiple approaches by ILT20 franchises to Australian contracted players, with as many as 15 cricketers approached.
Alongside the launch of the South Africa T20 league that forced the cancellation of Australia’s January 50-over series against the Proteas, the attempted mass raid underlined the BBL’s vulnerability unless it gave the players a better money-for-time ratio.
It was one of the triggers for CA to reach terms with David Warner and more recently Steve Smith to take up deals with the Sydney Thunder and Sydney Sixers respectively.
“Scarcity can be your friend, not your foe,” Australian Cricketers Association chief executive Todd Greenberg told SEN Radio on Friday. “A reduction in games potentially will bring a greater level of focus and yield to each of those games.
“The best sporting leagues in the world have scarcity – you look at the NFL and every game matters. The discussion after this Test match about the ‘big boys’ coming back to the BBL will create another dimension.”
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