Fall and Fall of Big Bash

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It's following a similar pattern to 50 over (international) cricket here each summer.
In the 80s and 90s it attracted huge crowds before falling away to what it is now. The problem is that there's too much cricket, so the games that garner the attention now seem to be limited to Test matches and the World Cup events. The rest is the sporting equivalent of elevator music
 
The Fonz said:
Since the peak in 2015/16, fast forward to today where the quality of the Big Bash has fallen off a cliff


Worse of all, the actually quality of the games has declined dramatically.
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Has it? How so - I'd love to see what metrics you base that off.
 

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It was a newish novelty around 15/16. The kinks of early seasons had been inked out, decent international talent was playing, channel 10 had exclusive rights on FTA. It helps that plonkers like Craig Simmons were smacking 100s which is the type of thing everyone can get behind. It was bound to fall away from there, though CA with their ridiculous scheduling sped that up.
 
I think the international stars bit is a bit of a myth. This isn't soccer or basketball to a lesser extent. We all have an option to watch the big stars quite often.

Being able to create stars has been the issue. The constant swapping of players isnt helping.

less said about the schedule the better. More games in peak holiday zone, less late work night. It is not rocket science.
 
Pakistan, England, India and New Zealand finished in the Top 4 of last years World Cup.

They are the benchmark of T20 cricket for me. You can sort of judge your comp by the standard of how many players are in the comp from that.

It doesnt help that the national team , Australia are playing in a test series. England are playing a white ball series. India players have never been allowed to play BBL Cricket.

The contrast between IPL and BBL are miles apart. Even factoring into account leagues outside the IPL, you could make a case Major League Cricket had a better set of players in their comp this year than the BBL.
 
Not sure how you can describe it as the fall and fall, last year's crowds and ratings were up significantly. More than 1.4 million people watched the final across 7, Fox and streaming; more than 53,000 people turned out for the game; 22 per cent increase in ratings across the five finals; overall increase across both Fox and 7.

We're four games in. Ratings appeared to increase last year when the Tests began, particularly when Australia was winning easily, it pushed people across to the BBL apparently. Might be a similar push with Pakistan and the West Indies. I wouldn't be hitting the panic buttons yet.
 
JackOutback said:
Not sure how you can describe it as the fall and fall, last year's crowds and ratings were up significantly. More than 1.4 million people watched the final across 7, Fox and streaming; more than 53,000 people turned out for the game; 22 per cent increase in ratings across the five finals; overall increase across both Fox and 7.

We're four games in. Ratings appeared to increase last year when the Tests began, particularly when Australia was winning easily, it pushed people across to the BBL apparently. Might be a similar push with Pakistan and the West Indies. I wouldn't be hitting the panic buttons yet.
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I'm pushing it!
They are also putting the competition on hold for a week while the test is happening in Perth. If it's a 3 dayer, there will be days of no cricket at all!
 

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I have not watched a Tower of Babel match for three or four years. I get that kids like it and while CA have a cash cow it will continue. I find the game, commentary and hoopla boring.

Rather than the weird splitting of the Shield and playing the first games on sub standard pitches, how about -

  • Starting the Shield in early November and run it through December and January
  • Run them as Day-Night matches
  • Fits with the Tests
  • First phase BaBel, beginning Oct and winds up end first week November
  • Second phase commences after 5th Test and could be styled as the champions phase
 
Why does t20 have to be a Mickey Mouse competition? And do people even care about international stars anymore? The best international t20 players are just t20 circuit players who no one even knows or care about any more

Cut the teams, go back to state v state, Vic, NSW, WA, QLD, SA, TAS - run a state league all summer with a mixture of both red ball & white ball cricket and focus on local talent. Make state cricket in all forms a national league people can look at as a high valuable career and grow up watching & wanting to play for your state.

No one wants to watch t20s every single night it’s boring as bat s**t, but as part of a larger competition sure
 
Grand Uncle Horace said:
I have not watched a Tower of Babel match for three or four years. I get that kids like it and while CA have a cash cow it will continue. I find the game, commentary and hoopla boring.

Rather than the weird splitting of the Shield and playing the first games on sub standard pitches, how about -

  • Starting the Shield in early November and run it through December and January
  • Run them as Day-Night matches
  • Fits with the Tests
  • First phase BaBel, beginning Oct and winds up end first week November
  • Second phase commences after 5th Test and could be styled as the champions phase
Click to expand...
hardly anyone watches FC matches. watching a cricket match for 4 days is a big ask for anyone.

The peak season is after X-mas and before school holidays. That is when you need the most popular products scheduled in. That is Test cricket and domestic T20. That caters for both audience demographics.
 
BobbyMorri said:
hardly anyone watches FC matches. watching a cricket match for 4 days is a big ask for anyone.

The peak season is after X-mas and before school holidays. That is when you need the most popular products scheduled in. That is Test cricket and domestic T20. That caters for both audience demographics.
Click to expand...

lol… I do.. now cant go but watch the streaming coverage of Shield matches.

Love it.
 
The Fonz said:
Since the peak in 2015/16, fast forward to today where the quality of the Big Bash has fallen off a cliff
*No crowds
*Minimal excitement or hype about matches
*Minimal big names (domestic or internatinal) playing

Worse of all, the actually quality of the games has declined dramatically.

What do other people think?
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You know you are in trouble when Fox's advertising campaign is focusing on the big names - in the commentary box.

Now they are some pretty impressive names, but I'm getting X-factor / Australia's got talent etc vibes - where the actual content is seen as secondary to the pundits.
 
BobbyMorri said:
I think the international stars bit is a bit of a myth. This isn't soccer or basketball to a lesser extent. We all have an option to watch the big stars quite often.

Being able to create stars has been the issue. The constant swapping of players isnt helping.

less said about the schedule the better. More games in peak holiday zone, less late work night. It is not rocket science.
Click to expand...
Yep. The early seasons were great with Hogg, Gilly, Lee, Warne, Murali, Punter, Gayle, Baz, Lynn to compliment the ODI players like finch, wade, Maxwell ect.

But that roster of ex players has dried up and not been replaced.
 
The Fonz said:
That's a good point. The only way they can fix the bash is to move it earlier. Have it mid october - beginning of december and then go straight into the test matches. this way the internationals will play in it
Click to expand...
Having it during school holidays is what's driven a lot of attendances and viewership in the past. The benefits of having 11 internationals spread across eight teams is going to be significantly outweighed by the lack of crowds, particularly during weeknights.
 
Underarm said:
Yep. The early seasons were great with Hogg, Gilly, Lee, Warne, Murali, Punter, Gayle, Baz, Lynn to compliment the ODI players like finch, wade, Maxwell ect.

But that roster of ex players has dried up and not been replaced.
Click to expand...
Hopefully when the likes of Warner, Smith, Khawaja, Starc and Hazlewood all retire in the next 2-4 years, they will play BBL as Lee, Warne and Ponting all did. Maybe that could see a spike in the BBL

I know CA requested after this summer for our final test of each summer to be the Sydney test so all international players can play the remainder of the BBL season after the last test
 
Merge the Melbourne teams, bring in a Canberra team and go back to 8 rounds so the comp is over inside a month.

And take it away from the f-wits at Channel 7.
 
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