Cricket Australia’s plans to privatise the Big Bash League (BBL) have suffered a major setback after three state associations reportedly rejected the proposal. CA needed approval from at least five of the six associations to move forward with the plan, but failed to secure the required support.
The situation has added to the growing uncertainty around Australian cricket, with reports now suggesting that several senior players are also unhappy with the latest central contracts offered by Cricket Australia.
According to a report by Code Sports, as many as five leading Australian cricketers are yet to sign their new contracts, indicating dissatisfaction with the current financial terms. The development comes at a sensitive time for CA, especially after the collapse of its BBL privatisation push.
The proposed privatisation model was expected to inject significant money into the league and increase player earnings, particularly for BBL stars who have long felt underpaid compared to players in overseas franchise competitions. However, with the proposal now stalled, there are concerns that more Australian players could opt to participate in foreign T20 leagues instead.
Just days earlier, reports had emerged that Cricket Australia offered Test and ODI captain Pat Cummins a three-year deal worth USD 12 million to ensure his long-term commitment to Australian cricket across formats. Cummins currently captains Sunrisers Hyderabad in the IPL and earns ₹18 crore per season with the franchise.
Cricket Australia chief executive Todd Greenberg recently admitted that the board now faces difficult decisions following resistance from the associations.
“There may be a world where some want to do this, and some don’t, or some want to do it now, and some want to do it in another time frame. Option A for us has always been that we do it at the same time to extract the maximum value in the market,” Greenberg said.
“But clearly we’re not at that point. So we now have to reassess what comes next,” he added.
Greenberg further stated that CA would now conduct a deeper analysis into the overall impact of privatisation on Australian cricket.
“We have to look at that lens in the decisions that we make. And we’ve now got some analysis to do if that’s the case or not,” he said.
One of the major concerns among the state associations is that privatisation could eventually reduce their influence and control over the BBL’s future operations and commercial decisions
