The '15-16 summer is the year Australian cricket’s "financial pyramid turned on its head," according to Peter Lalor of THE AUSTRALIAN. The Test series against an "honest New Zealand side and a woeful West Indies outfit will lose money" while the Big Bash League is "set to rake in a big profit and steal the spotlight." Ticket sales and membership "are on line to produce the best ever season for the domestic T20 competition" and the franchises are expected to make a A$4M ($2.9M) profit -- "all of which goes straight to the states." The Test series "are financial and public relations disasters with the cricket world aghast at the sorry performance by the West Indies in Hobart." Cricket Australia announced it was facing a A$10M ($7.2M) loss for the '15-16 period. Visits by India and England "attract handsome profits" and in the cycle that spans from '13-14 to '16-17, revenue will climb to a projected A$1.32B ($960M), up from A$736M ($533M) in the previous four-year period. The strength of the domestic T20 competition "has surprised everyone with franchises reporting memberships have doubled on last year." The eight BBL franchises have attracted a "massive" A$13M ($9.4M) in sponsorship in just the fifth year of the competition (THE AUSTRALIAN, 12/15).
