The lack of fans at the Sixers-Strikers match spurred criticism over the length of the current BBL season. GETTY IMAGES
Cricket Australia officials were "so determined to squeeze every drop out of the Big Bash League that they floated a plan to expand it to a staggering 72 games," according to Ben Horne of THE AUSTRALIAN. Amid "growing disquiet" over the length of the current 59-game season after just 8,083 people "turned up" to watch the Sydney Sixers at the Sydney Cricket Ground on Tuesday, the "full extent of CA’s bullishness about expansion during TV rights negotiations last year can be revealed." Talks during high-level meetings "even raised the possibility of a hypothetical 96-game model in planning for the future." Under CA’s old leadership, officials shared with TV execs last year a detailed document called an "Indicative Calendar," which tables how the cricket landscape might look over the next five years and "includes comprehensive scheduling prospects" for int'l and domestic cricket. There is no suggestion anything was ever "set in stone," but the meetings with TV networks "highlight the level of confidence" CA had in increasing the number of BBL games, Some of the BBL’s biggest names, including Chris Lynn and Kevin Pietersen, have questioned the length of the season. But BBL Head Kim McConnie said, "It’s difficult to say it’s too long when you compare it to the NRL and AFL and the overall summer of cricket." She added, "I think it’s too early to say it’s too long" (THE AUSTRALIAN, 1/31).
MORE DOUBLEHEADERS?: In Sydney, Andrew Wu reported CA is considering scheduling more doubleheaders next season as part of a shortened BBL "so that the competition can finish earlier in February." CA will conduct a review of the BBL at the end of the tournament as the governing body "came under more criticism" on Wednesday over the length of its Twenty20 event. The governing body's "ambition is to own February," but administrators are "prepared to play the long game" to give the BBL "time to grow" from what was a 35-game season just two years ago into a full 59-game home-and-away competition. CA, however, is "committed to maintaining 59 games," as part of the six-year, A$1.18B TV deal signed last year, but is "open to altering the length of the event" (SYDNEY MORNING HERALD, 1/30).
