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Australians love their sport and they love their cricket. Australia is still one of the few countries in the world where Test cricket will still draw a crowd. In fact, all versions of the game are embraced by the Australian public.
So were administrators ahead of themselves in giving Australia its own version of the IPL?
The crowds seen in the first week of the Big Bash League would certainly seem to indicate that they were.
When Melbourne embraced the Victory as its football team, it was as a standalone team in a national league. There was never any doubt it would have crowd support. Even the Melbourne Heart could count on the support of football fans that were not enamoured with the Victory.
The Melbourne Acers in the baseball was always going to gather support from within the baseball fraternity of Melbourne. So wasn’t it only reasonable to assume that Melbourne would embrace the Big Bash League?
Well, no, not really. The big difference is that the football teams and baseball filled a vacuum whereby there were fans waiting for a league and a team. Cricket is very different. The people already had teams that they followed and they tended to be very parochial. You supported your state and your country. Moving to support a franchise instead is a big move emotionally for many.
Logic would say they you would support a Big Bash team from your state. However, the players are not necessarily connected to your state, or even your country. If you were to choose a team based on where your favourite players were playing, it may not necessarily be a local team for you. Loyalty to state must go out the window.
Twenty20 was not in trouble in Australia. A record crowd of 40,000 saw Victoria play New South Wales last year. So why tamper with the system? Was it to compete with the IPL? No, I strongly suspect it was to create a source of income for local players. While this is a noble goal, especially if cricket is to compete with the AFL for talented youth, it also disregards the public.
However, lessons could be learned from how the AFL developed its league. The understanding that the fans were parochial, loyal for generations to the “local team” was deeply inset and saw the setting up of franchises with special care to be inclusive of past fans.
Sydney and Brisbane were always mindful of their Melbourne base from South Melbourne and Fitzroy. While independent franchises are set up completely differently, they appeal, interestingly enough, solely to the local population (see GWS and Gold Coast).
Pricing is also interesting. I can only speak for here in Victoria. I would argue that for its first season the prices are too high. I understand that the aim of Cricket Australia is to make the Big Bash family friendly. But for a family (2 adults and 2 kids) it costs $75. This is about twice what it would cost to take the family to the movies for only a slightly longer time frame.
However, going to the cricket, by necessity, would mean choosing a team to follow. Paraphernalia for the kids is an added cost, but an almost unavoidable one. The other added cost is the possibility of going to future games (all cleverly falling in the summer holiday period). A single adult pays $33 dollars for a game.
I would argue that while you are asking people to decide whether to commit these prices are too high. Don’t forget that one can only watch the games on pay TV or live.
I see a large part of the cricket loving population feel very much disenfranchised by the Big Bash League.
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