On the cane train crowds
That would account for a small drop off. Include the 20% decrease, which has happened everywhere and it would be about right.
I always thought the BBL succeded despite the mismanagement of Cricket Australia. The mascots of the teams are stupid. The colours are stupid. They were marketing franchises with no connection to the area.
The Thunder are the perfect example. Why are they called the Sydney Thunder, and another team called the Sydney 6ers. There was no point of difference, outside colours, logo or where they played. Why not call the Thunder, West Sydney Thunder(one of the better mascots chosen) and create a bigger point of difference and give it some loyalty to the stadium and its place in Sydney. In saying that, I think the Thunder are going as good, if not better, than the 6ers.
The Renegades are similar but are far more problematic in terms of identity. Being an anti Stars team, like what Melbourne Heart was to Victory, isn't a blueprint to success, as we have seen from both of these teams.. But I think they understand that a lot better now and are starting to shift its focus to the West of Melbourne and Geelong. They are as much of a victim of not having a stadium that far away from another "better" one.
The BBL went through a huge expansion this year and it was always going to have massive growing pains by doing so, especially later on this year. There are things to fix and work on for next year, but it is still a dominate force around this time of year