"Whoever is running the ship of the Big Bash needs to be signed up for the NBL." - Only if they bring Cricket Australia's budget with them.

#30443

Actually, the BBL started well in its first season, and actually exceeded expectations for crowds and tv audiences that it set itself.

I give it a life of 4-7 years btw in this format although I have seen the emergence of some tribalism this year.

I saw figures that said combined losses last season were $8m - with similar expectations this year. Both the Renegades and Thunder are supposedly struggling financially. A number of teams (Hobart is one) do not have a major sponsor. I would think a BBL franchise is much cheaper to operate than an A-league franchise

Certainly it has made more noise this year. You might recall however that CA has been heavily criticized by its states and others for not investing in promotion of its test series, and its focus on Big Bash.

It's cost v return. They pay for big name stars and play in expensive stadiums so you need very big sponsorship and crowd returns to cover it. Same with the A-League.

The NBL has taken a different approach, minimise losses and grow slowly. Which one is best only time will tell, but it could also be a case of horses for courses because basketball doesnt have the backers willing to take the risk on the other approach at the moment.

Paul is correct. Break even for many teams in their venues would be high. AFL teams that play at Etihad have break even crowd numbers of over 20,000 people and the BBL would be similar in some locations.

And, as much as I hate league average crowds as any really useful sort of measure, Aus Stadiums has average crowds for BBL at about 13800 - very similar to A-league this summer.

20/20 is too long for me, I say bring on 5/5 ;)

Only one team in the Big Bash made money last year and most teams this year are expected to lose $500,000.

The Big Bash and international 20/20 will end the 50 over game eventually.

BB will soak up any potential new ponsors the NBL could have.

No Contest - the BBL has already drowned out the NBL in terms of media coverage and spectators and promotion and entertainment and sponsorship.

The BBL Season is short and games are on just about every night somewhere around the country and televised on foxtel. Games are even replayed throughout the day on the Foxtel cricket channel.

The BBL games are exciting & unpredictable & entertaining.

Theres no guarantee the NBL will still be here in 3-4 years but CA has the financial backing to keep the BBL going for at least 5-10 years.

Good god, who cares about a bunch of has beens and players just looking for the dollar, trying to hit a ball out of a stadium for a couple of hours?

I don't even know who or what these BB teams represent, so for me if the NBL is going to regain some ground it needs to do something the BB can't...

Keep working towards connecting with the ground roots supporter, the family and the kids!

Yes, cricket gets more than their fair share of promotion, while basketball seems to be less media friendly, for whatever reason, but I agree that basketball will still be there in years to come, not sure about the bash......??