Cricket NSW slams Cricket Australia’s decision to allow club sales
Updated ,first published
Cricket Australia’s decision to put the Melbourne Renegades up for sale and open the way for wider private investment in Big Bash League clubs has been hammered by Cricket NSW, the home state of CA chair Mike Baird and chief executive Todd Greenberg.
A day after CA made the announcement at the SCG, although without the cricket ground in the background after a request from NSW to keep the Sydney Sixers’ home off-camera, Cricket NSW chair John Knox and chief executive Lee Germon delivered their response.
“Cricket NSW is disappointed by Cricket Australia’s decision to proceed with introducing private investment into the Big Bash Leagues without alignment across Australian cricket,” the state association said in a statement on Wednesday afternoon.
“This decision risks leaving cricket in NSW and Australia strategically and financially worse off, with direct consequences for our ability to invest in grassroots cricket. Cricket NSW strongly believes in the future growth of the WBBL and BBL. Both leagues and all clubs are powerful drivers of participation and fan interest in cricket.”
Responding to the CNSW statement, CA chief executive Todd Greenberg said on Wednesday: “As I said at yesterday’s announcement, I am very confident private investment in the Big Bash Leagues will provide enormous long-term benefits for all levels of Australian Cricket. CA shares CNSW’s pride in the Australian cricket system and the brilliant players and thousands of participants and fans it continues to produce.
“We believe that investing a significant proportion of the proceeds from the sale of Big Bash club licences in a future fund will provide the best and most reliable source of funding for grassroots cricket, elite pathways and high-performance systems across the game for generations to come. We will continue to work with all states and the players to ensure the best interests of the game are enhanced and protected.”
CA and CNSW have spent a great deal of time trying to thrash out their differences recently. Baird and Greenberg attended a CNSW board meeting, and all CNSW directors were also present for a call with the CA board.
Those meetings were exhaustive and occasionally heated, but ended with neither side backing down, nor being convinced by opposing arguments.
Following the end of their consultations, the CA board chose to push ahead with allowing Cricket Victoria to sell off the Renegades, while pressing ahead with a wider “self-determination model” allowing other states to make up their own minds about selling. The CNSW statement makes it clear that the nation’s biggest cricket state remains discontented.
Baird was a NSW nominee to join the CA board, and is up for re-election at this year’s AGM next month. It is possible that NSW will change their choice of state nominee, with Baird then needing to move to one of the independent spots on the CA board if he wishes to continue as chair.
“We are proud to be part of an Australian cricket system that is the envy of the world,” Cricket NSW said. “Yesterday’s announcement threatens this system. The redistribution of profits to external investors reduces our ability to invest in community cricket, creating long-term impacts at all levels.
“The Cricket NSW board is also disappointed by the process leading to this decision. We have raised concerns directly with Cricket Australia, proposed an alternative pathway to strengthen the Big Bash, and highlighted significant risks within the proposal, informed by high-quality external advice.
“Additionally, the four pre-conditions for a sale process, unanimously agreed by all state chairs in June, have not been met. Cricket NSW will continue working with Cricket Australia on behalf of our members, participants, volunteers, supporters and all cricket lovers to ensure our game continues to thrive in our state and nationally, underpinned by a world-leading system.”
Over recent months, the arguments from Knox, Germon and their advisors – including Melbourne Cricket Club committee member and Adara Group partner Christian Johnston – have been in favour of retaining ownership of BBL clubs and seeking to raise the value of the competition by other means ahead of the next round of broadcast rights.
“The BBL is Australia’s most-watched and second-highest attended sports league per game,” the state association said. “Last summer’s record crowds and endless memorable moments, headlined by an unforgettable Sydney Smash at the SCG, showed the Big Bash has never been stronger.
“The WBBL continues to attract the world’s best players and inspire more girls and boys to play our game. The profits from our successful and healthy Big Bash clubs – the Sydney Sixers and Sydney Thunder – are reinvested into growing participation in cricket.
“This focus on our purpose has led to 80 per cent growth in 5 to 12-year-olds over the last four years, and one third of contracted players across Australia coming from NSW.”
At Tuesday’s announcement, Baird and Greenberg stressed that any sale of BBL clubs would take place with appropriate controls to ensure the primacy of Test cricket in Australia.
“We’re not saying there aren’t risks,” Baird said. “There are. You’ve got to be practical and realistic there. We will be very clear upfront that if you want to participate, here are all the protections that we have, and anyone coming in, that’s what they’ll be.
“We’ll have the control of those protections. Private investors will have a say in the day-to-day running of the competition. [But] we control the league, we control the schedule, and that’s an important protection.”
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Daniel Brettig is The Age’s chief cricket writer and the author of several books on cricket.Connect via X.