- Video
-
Club Roar
Captured a great grassroots sporting moment? We want to see it!Content Collections
The Roar Community
- Join
- Login
The Big Bash League is about to get even bigger, with Cricket Australia announcing the expansion of the competition for the 2017-18 season.
BBL07 will feature eight more matches than the current season, with each team to play two more games in the regular season.
40 matches will be played prior to a three-game finals series, meaning that there will be more than 100 Big Bash League matches played next season across the men’s and women’s versions of the tournament.
The Big Bash has gone from strength to strength in recent times, with over one million fans having already gone through the turnstiles of Australia’s premier Twenty20 competition this season. Additionally, the average TV viewership of the tournament has reached over a million sets of eyes in BBL07.
The move to expand the tournament will see each side play an extra home fixture from next season, with the total of home matches rising from four to five.
Cricket Australia cited a push to lure new fans to the tournament in an attempt to broaden their fanbase on the back of the BBL’s recent success. Further, an intent to drive participation in the sport, fans could well see the league open up to new markets across the country and “allow even more first-time fans across Australia the ability to experience cricket outside of capital cities.”
Big Bash boss Anthony Everard also indicated the competition is looking at expanding the women’s tournament.
“The opportunity to expand matches into non-traditional markets is not just limited to the men’s game. We are working to see how we can also schedule Women’s Big Bash League matches in these new venues, once they are finalised,” he said.
Everard also refused to rule out the possibility of expansion in terms of the number of teams competing in the competition.
“At present, there are no plans to increase the number of teams in the League in the immediate future, but we remain open-minded about future expansion plans,” he concluded.
It is not yet known whether the extra games will see the tournament start earlier or if the finals series will be pushed back from its current Australia Day weekend slot, although those details are expected to be finalised in the coming months.
Build your own fantasy cricket team and put it to the test with Draftstars daily fantasy competitions. Pick your match, pick your team and watch the points roll in to take out cash prizes on each match. What are you really gambling with? Set a deposit limit.