Brisbane, 6 September 2025:
Cricket Australia has been urged by three state associations not to rush into privatizing the Big Bash League, amid revelations of long-term lease agreements that could block any sale of the Twenty20 competition, The Sydney Morning Herald reported.
While CA considers a high-profile push to sign Indian star Ravichandran Ashwin for this summer’s BBL, chief executive Todd Greenberg met state CEOs in Brisbane this week to discuss options for raising capital to secure the sport’s future.
The talks followed a letter sent to CA chair Mike Baird by the chairs of New South Wales (John Knox), Queensland (Kirsten Pike) and Victoria (Ross Hepburn), seeking assurances that no decisions had already been made on privatization. The letter came after a Boston Consulting Group report recommended selling minority stakes in each of the eight clubs, similar to England’s Hundred competition.
Two sources with knowledge of the confidential discussions confirmed the letter was sent, according to The Herald. CA declined to comment.
Baird and the state chairs are expected to meet again in Melbourne on Monday for an update on potential BBL privatisation scenarios, with a decision expected by year’s end.
Although CA leaders have signaled openness to outside investment, the governing body cannot act unilaterally because the six states effectively own it. In the BBL’s case, each club is leased to the states for 30 years, from the league’s 2011 launch through 2041, with a review clause due in 2026.
“The chairman [Mike Baird] and I are at pains to point out that this process, this project will only work if it benefits everyone … the total circumference of Australian cricket,” Greenberg said last month.
States agree the BBL has room to grow and should aim to be the world’s second-most successful T20 league behind the IPL. But there is no consensus on whether selling stakes in clubs is the right move, or even necessary, given concerns about protecting Test cricket’s prime calendar slots and securing broadcast revenue.
Expansion into Singapore or New Zealand has also been floated, with some states interested in selling multimillion-dollar licenses, similar to how the AFL expanded in the late 1980s and 1990s.
Greenberg and other executives also heard from U.S.-based Raine Group, the investment firm that oversaw the $1 billion auction of the Hundred’s eight clubs.
“Cricket is the second-largest sport in the world … but probably one of the lowest in terms of the commercialisation per fan,” Raine Group partner Jason Schretter said recently on a podcast. “Where there’s engagement there should be commercialisation, and there isn’t.”
