In 1977, Channel 9 owner Kerry Packer signed up 66 of the world’s best cricketers – many of them in the prime of their careers like Dennis Lillee, Greg Chappell, Tony Greig, Clive Lloyd – to play in a series televised exclusively on the Nine Network called World Series Cricket.
It upset many in the traditional game, those who loved the forms of the game like Tests and the Sheffield Shield.
Now, more than 30 years later, the game has changed again, thanks to the Big Bash League.
And, this time, unlike WSC, it has the backing of the official custodians of the game, Cricket Australia.
WSC broke the shackles and introduced cricket to a new generation of fans. CA are hoping to do the same with the BBL, most notably in the 10-15 age group.
As mentioned above, WSC was televised on the Nine Network. However, the BBL is on a pay-TV channel, Fox Sports.
WSC had only three teams in the Supertests/ODI series: WSC Australia, the West Indies and the World. In contrast, the BBL has 8 teams, among them the Melbourne Stars, Hobart Hurricanes. Perth Scorchers and Sydney Sixers.
In the first year of WSC, the grounds were: VFL Park (Melbourne) Gloucester Park (Perth), Sydney Showgrounds (Sydney) and Football Park (now AAMI Stadium-Adelaide).
Compare this to the BBL, which has: ie Melbourne Stars (MCG), Melbourne Renegades (Etihad Stadium), Perth Scorchers (WACA) , Brisbane Heat (Gabba).
What will be most interesting will be the financial costs.
WSC lost an estimated $6 million on the first season. The BBL won’t be that worse off because a) the series has been an enormous success and b) it has the financial support and backing of CA and Fox Sports.
The key to the long-term success of the BBL will be season two of the BBL.
If cricket supporters can continue to support the BBL, as much as it did in season two of WSC, where for example 50,000 turned up on November 28, 1978 to see the lights switched on for the match between Australia and the West Indies, then the future for the BBL is assured.
bozo
Guest
More appropriate to compare BBL with World Championship Wrestling. The Fox commentators are straight out of the Channel 9 Willoughby studio.
bozo
Guest
Me appropriate to compare BBL with World Championship Wrestling. The Fox commentators are straight out of the Channel 9 Willoughby studio.
Informant
Guest
I think parallels can be made between WSC and IPL, not WSC and BBL. BBL is the awakening of the sleeping giant if domestic cricket which as either been ignored or promoted half-heartedly in the past. I remember the early days of WSC and the doomsdayers were saying the same thing about the BBL: destroying test cricket, ruining techniques, hit and giggle, pyjama game etc. And I doubt whether tests were the priority of WSC...the supertests were an afterthought behind the one dayers. With proper scheduling, the BBL will complement the international game like we've seen shades of this year.
sheek
Guest
Hi Jason, The WSC saga has reached biblical proportions, whereby people will interpret WSC in the same way as the bible to present a particular argument, any argument. It was often said Super League was like WSC, except it wasn't really. Yes, Super League was about TV rights & signing up players at huge wages, to play in a rebel comp. But that's where it ended. While WSC was absolutely right for its time, providing players with a wage spurt they had been previously denied, there wasn't much right about Super League, apart from its 14 team concept (& max. 6 teams in Sydney). But its attempted implementation was way wrong & clumsy. And eventually a publicity nightmare. There are obvious similarities between WSC & BBL, but we shouldn't get too carried away with how far those similarities extend. WSC was still about tests being the pinnacle. One-dayers were found to be a pleasant money-making addition. The love affair with one-dayers happened gradually rather than suddenly. BBL is asking fans to make a fundamental departure from previously accepted forms of cricket. The difference between T20 & test cricket is far greater than limited overs & test cricket. Obviously the connection between WSC & BBL/IPL can be found in the financial windfall side of things, but otherwise, it is a massive departure from cricket as we knew it. Far greater than back in the WSC days. The future of test cricket was never seriously threatened by WSC. Not at any point. But the future of test cricket can definitely be threatened by BBL (T20 cricket). Perhaps a fairer question is to ask whether BBL will have the same destructive outcome as Super League, with regards to goodwill. Especially in the short to mid-term?