The Big Bash League has "burst into the top 10 most attended sports leagues in the world," according to Chris Barrett of the BRISBANE TIMES. Organizers of the Twenty20 tournament, in its fifth edition, "are still trying to digest the enormity of the 80,883 crowd that turned up to the MCG for the derby between the Stars and Renegades a week ago." The upcoming Sydney derby next Saturday is "also poised to be an SCG domestic record of up to 42,000, an attendance that will only help drive the average crowd figures further north." The late-season average of 28,279 before Sunday's two games has "propelled the BBL to ninth position on the list of the world's most attended sports leagues," nudging ahead of Japan's professional baseball league (28,248) and Indian Super League football (26,376). The BBL clearly has a "far smaller sample size than other competitions that fill spots inside and around the top 10." By contrast, the world's biggest league, the NFL, drew in excess of 17 million fans to its stadiums in the '15 regular season. Even so, a rise of nearly 5,000 spectators per game and the place in the global top 10 to date this season "is another representation of the fast emerging success of the BBL." BBL Manager Anthony Everard said, "That's flattering, given that the competition is only five years old, to be in the company of some of those really established sports leagues. Having said that it's obviously not really our focus. Our focus is on our own backyard and making sure we continue to appeal to kids and families" (BRISBANE TIMES, 1/11).
'ENCOURAGING SIGN': NEWS.COM.AU's Tiffany Dunk reported the BBL "did what was once thought to be the impossible -- it trounced Nine’s Test Cricket in the ratings." It is an "encouraging sign for the fledgling franchise, which has viewers across the country eagerly tuning in not just to watch the game but to enjoy the entertaining commentary and innovations that accompany each match." From the addition of "larger-than-life" commentator Andrew "Freddie" Flintoff to mid-pitch interviews with players to "unprecedented change room footage and more," Ten has "breathed new life into a sport that has, on occasion, seemed a little behind the times." And what Ten is doing is "taking cricket back to what it should be -- good, old-fashioned entertainment that engages the whole family." Female viewers of the game are on the rise (38% of BBL’s audience are women) and it is "also engaging" the lucrative U25 and 25-49 demographics. Not only that, it is up 19% year-on-year in total viewers, with an average of 1 million people tuning in for each session nationally (five city metro and regional) (NEWS.COM.AU, 1/10).
BETTING ON THE RISE: In Sydney, Carly Adno reported it is "already a TV ratings hit and now the Big Bash has taken off with punters too." The popularity of the T20 tournament "is staggering" -- and it is growing every year -- with the TAB reporting that customers are betting on average more than A$500,000 ($348,200) on every Big Bash game. The biggest holding game so far this season was the Melbourne Renegades against the Perth Scorchers on Dec. 30. That match held A$724,305 ($504,400), and "that was just a regular round game -- the finals don't start for another 11 days." Overall, betting is up 20% in the Big Bash compared to last season -- a jump that has "even caught the TAB by surprise." The TAB's Matt Jenkins said, "Betting on the Big Bash has been building since its inception, but it has really taken off this season" (DAILY TELEGRAPH, 1/9).
DESPERATE TIMES: In London, Nick Hoult reported Federation of Int'l Cricketers’ Associations CEO Tony Irish said that Bilateral Test cricket "will die as more top stars turn to Twenty20 unless radical change is implemented soon." Irish said that "more players are considering becoming free agents since the carving up of power and money" by the big three countries now running the Int'l Cricket Council. He believes players will "follow the example" of top cricketers from the West Indies such as Chris Gayle and Dwayne Bravo who have opted to play Twenty20 tournaments rather than int'l cricket. FICA has called on the ICC to "push through radical plans for changes to Test cricket with ideas at the moment including a divisional format with promotion and relegation" for both Test and one-day cricket. ICC CEO Dave Richardson this week "ruled out any change" before '19, which is when the current tours program ends. But Irish believes that will be "too late." Irish: "If we wait until 2019 then bilateral cricket around the world is going to be in real trouble" (TELEGRAPH, 1/9).
