CA GOES INTO BAT TO SAVE BBL

MAKING STARS AVAILABLE CRUCIAL TO TV DEAL

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, cannot kick in until 2024 – leaving CA in a perilous position going 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 next January, as well as an Australian Test team likely leaving for India before the BBL finals.

It is a scheduling double blow that once again diminishes 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 $1.8bn TV deal with Channel 7 and Fox Sports.

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, Seven and Fox Sports.

“They’ve basically got this summer to sort it out otherwise it’s not going to be worth what it was worth,” one industry source said.

“It’s just not.

But CA executives are listening to the damning feedback and in Dubai last week held crucial talks with the International Cricket Council about permanently fencing off the last three weeks in January following the Sydney New Year’s Test to make it an exclusive BBL window.

It is a potentially watershed moment for the Big Bash, because it will guarantee all Australian Test and white-ball superstars would be available every summer for a significant stretch of games, including finals – something that has never happened in the history of the competition.

But the billion-dollar question is will it be too late to save cricket’s next TV rights deal from disaster.

Seven currently has no interest in bidding again for the BBL and there is no sign at this stage that Channel 10 or Channel 9 would be interested in weighing in.

It is estimated the BBL currently represents up to $80m of the $186m Seven 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 $20m a year Channel 10 had it for in the previous TV deal.

Both Seven and Fox have told Cricket Australia executives in no uncertain terms that this coming summer is do-or-die for the BBL before negotiations for the next deal start.

The networks want less gimmicks and more genuine star power.