THERE are serious concerns in Cricket Australia that the artificial bubble created around the Big Bash League has burst and the television rights deal may not significantly exceed the cost of hyping the product.
Crowds in the second year of the competition, like ratings, continue to fall.
A little more than 5000 people attended the match between the Renegades and the Heat in Melbourne on Saturday night. The AFL gets twice those numbers to training in finals week.
The Melbourne disaster follows an all-time low crowd of 4101 at ANZ Stadium two nights before.
Cricket Australia, as The Australian revealed, has budgeted to lose more than $20 million for the first two years of the BBL, hoping to inflate the television rights deal that is due in the new year.
News that Seven West Media is losing interest in bidding for the rights is a worrying sign.
The BBL seeks to achieve the sort of rights coup achieved by the Champions League Twenty20 competition -- a deal that stands as a lesson to any broadcaster.
Having missed out on the rights to the successful Indian Premier League, ESPN Star bid $1.1billion over 10 years for the Champions League tournament, which is owned by the Indian, Australian and South African cricket boards.
The ratings have been poor since the inception of the competition and the broadcasters have been burned. The boards are rolling in cash, but can hardly expect to do such a deal next time. BBL is not such a big investment and is one of the highest-rating sports on Fox Sports, but the hype has bothered many.
Cricket Australia has strived to inflate the excitement around the BBL, which feeds into the Champions League, betting the farm on the hope the format will deliver a new revenue stream and young audience. The investment is so large it has to succeed.
This year Cricket Australia paid select media organisations to cover the Champions League in South Africa -- a move that allowed a number of journalists to be on hand to cover the developing controversy around the Perth side's drinking sessions.
There has, however, been a significant shift at Cricket Australia that suggests a change in the power balance between the marketing people who have spent so much hyping the domestic T20 product and those responsible for the game of cricket.
Traditionally the T20 pushers get their way at the cost of international cricket. Players like Shane Watson, Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins had no choice but to compete in the Champions League because it was seen as an key marketing exercise, even if there were concerns about Test preparations as a consequence.
The BBL has been similarly favoured. When Dave Warner refused to re-sign with the struggling Sydney Thunder franchise, Cricket Australia stepped in and was part of a deal that saw Michael Clarke go to the team -- he was to play one game, but was withdrawn injured before that eventuated.
Cricket Australia also contributes a hefty sum to have Warne play for the Melbourne Stars and was disappointed when that side was beaten out of the finals and the Champions League by the Scorchers. With the Australian skipper absent from the Thunder, it was naked and stamping its feet.
Usman Khawaja, who may well play this Test, was appointed captain of the Chairman's XI side playing Sri Lanka in a tour match in Canberra.
Desperate to give the Thunder some bauble to hang on its tree, Cricket Australia told the cricketer that he was to leave the game on the third day and fly to Sydney to compete in the T20 -- a decision that frustrated some of the cricket staff.
Last week the coaching staff had won of their biggest wins in the battle with the marketing department. Embarrassed by the spate of injuries decimating bowlers and batsmen, team high performance manager Pat Howard was allowed to pull all players in contention for a Test place out of the recent BBL matches.
The damage done to cricket is more widespread than the effect on the top tier. All first-class cricket in Australia is cancelled for the duration of the BBL.
There are no Shield or Ryobi Cup matches from early December to late January in order to give the T20 maximum impact. Young cricketers like Western Australia's Marcus Harris, who scored a century in the Shield before it was closed down and then was chosen for the Chairman's XI, find themselves trudging around club cricket looking for a game.
He will not find another first-class match for a month.
The Shield season has been compressed either side of the BBL, donut hole with some sides playing a lot of games early in the year on poor pitches to compensate for NSW and WA having teams at the Champions League. The back quarter of the season is also lopsided.
States also bear a heavy burden with Queensland and Adelaide expected to lose more than $500,000 on the Big Bash this year -- money which could have gone to the grassroots.
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