T20 Big Bash League (from 2011/12)

[Boba Fett]

I think Feb-Mar bugs CA because it gets lost in the start of footy

You may well be right, but CA needs to fight back against the encroachment of the football codes into the summer months. T20 is the perfect product to do that with. Plus, the media and public (not to mention most of the Test players probably) are confused as to which form of cricket they are supposed to be paying attention to at the moment. One minute they're playing Test matches and the next they're playing T20. And even more stupidly, CA has scheduled BBL games and Test matches on THE SAME DAY. Just beggars belief really...

[Merlin_Wiese]

I also believe that the success of this competition will depend on crowds, TV and the standard of cricket. The league has marketed itself to the younger generation and as such it will be scrutinised by the above. If the comp had stayed the same I doubt we'd be taking as much about it. In any case:

Crowds: Again I also think that they were about the same as last year, if not a little bit less. They were still really good for state cricket games, but were slightly down on attendances from this round last year. And yeah, if CA and the media hadn't have set such high expectations I think most people would say they were reasonable. Take Warnie's Stars for example - The MCC anticipated a crowd of around 35K; various media outlets and CA were saying around the 40 to 45K mark (I even heard one as high as 50K). They only managed 23,000 which is a lot lower, and a little disappointing given all the hype around Warnie. Crowds were:

12,285 - SCG: Sydney Sixers vs. Brisbane Heat
23,496 - MCG: Melbourne Stars vs. Sydney Thunder
11,742 - Adelaide Oval: Adelaide Strikers vs. Melbourne Renegades
13,307 - WACA: Perth Scorchers vs. Hobart Hurricanes

Last year's comp in it's first round had crowds of 15K, 30K and 18K so they're about the same really. However we're still in December and crowds will pick up in the January holiday period which is when I would be really judging them. At this stage it's not that bad, but if things don't pick up when everyone's on holiday then i'd be worried.

On a side note to this, has anyone found any membership figures for the teams? Be interesting to see how many they've gotten.

TV: Very good. Extremely good. Each game was the most watch show of the night on Foxtel by a country mile. I would assume as well that it will be fairly consistent throughout the tournament. The A-League would be it's main sporting rival over the summer and it easily beat them this weekend in both crowds and TV. I was reading a small article in the Herald Sun a few days ago that one or two FTA networks were interested in purchasing the rights to at least one of the games and creating a summer cricket version of Friday Night Footy. Put a marquee match in that time slot on FTA should be a ratings winner. The cricket always rates well over the summer and i think this would work too. It won't happen for at least 2 years due to Foxtel's contract though. TV Ratings:

342,000; #1 Foxtel - Sixers vs. Heat
- 114,000 pre game; #2 Foxtel
488,000; #1 Foxtel; #10 Overall - Stars vs. Thunder
- 191,000 pre game; #2 Foxtel
349,000; #1 Foxtel - Strikers vs. Renegades
- 160,000 pre game; #3 Foxtel
273,000; #2 Foxtel - Scorchers vs. Hurricanes

All games easily won every ratings slot on Foxtel for the night and other sporting events - Golf (VIC Masters): 72K, 77K, 89K; A-League 59K (AU vs. GCU), 56K (NEW vs. SFC), 71K (MVC vs. WEL). Even the replay of the Stars vs. Thunder drew 69,000 (#10 Sunday Foxtel).

Cricket: I think the standard was pretty good. Don't care what teams or level your playing at but a 100 not out in a T20 is bloody impressive, that David Warner has some talent. Warnie was a bit of a fizzer but should be alright once he gets into the swing of things and recovers from his frying incident. A 76 from Haddin was good too. Most totals were around the 150 mark - about par for T20's. All in all reasonably good cricket.

I still think it's too early to determine whether it was worth totally rebranding the state T20 comp. Personally I saw nothing wrong with what we had, just boost it slightly as it was doing well. Still they've gone with a total revamp so I think we might have to wait a season or two to see if it was worth it.

[Boba Fett]

Does anyone know how the TV ratings for this opening round compared to last year?

If those figures stay as high as that, then I'm sure FTA will be sniffing around next season. Not to mention sponsors...

[Jeffles]

^^ The best ever domestic T20 ratings was 316k for the 2009-10 final, so ratings are way up on anything the old competition produced. I think that's a win for saturation marketing, not necessarily a win for replacing the states with cities.

I wonder if it will hold.

[Boba Fett]

^^ The best ever domestic T20 ratings was 316k for the 2009-10 final, so ratings are way up on anything the old competition produced. I think that's a win for saturation marketing, not necessarily a win for replacing the states with cities.

I wonder if it will hold.

Only time will tell, but losing the major drawcard (Warner) for pretty much the entire rest of the tournament isn't going to help. But if people liked what the saw last weekend, there's no reason to think they would drop off. And it may even grow as people start to develop attachments to particular teams as they start to become more familiar.

I still say the best time for the BBL is Feb-March. Finish up all the other forms of the game (Shield, Tests and one dayers) before it - that sorts out all the confilicting schedules.

[redback_original]

Hmmm... 13, 265 at Etihad for the Renegades v Scorchers.

Maybe the concept of having two teams in Melbourne was a mistake (particularly as their home grounds are so close). I suspect the same for Sydney but will delay my final call until after the game at ANZ tomorrow.

[Rob]

Crowd was fine. I thought they'd be lucky to get over 10k. Good game though.

But I think we'd all concur with the idea that if this comp succeeds, then it's in spite of CA, not because of it.

[Boba Fett]

Crowd was fine. I thought they'd be lucky to get over 10k. Good game though.

But I think we'd all concur with the idea that if this comp succeeds, then it's in spite of CA, not because of it.

Nope - as this revamp of the BBL is being driven from CA, it's appropriate they wear the blame if it's a dud, or get the kudos if it works. Early signs are reasonably positive - a little disappointing with crowd figures at the game (with the exception of Perth and Brisbane), but fantastic TV viewing figures.

[bazza]

Looks like crowds outside of Sydney and Melbourne should be ok

[Merlin_Wiese]

Yeah I was expecting for the Renegades to draw a crowd around the 10K mark too. It seemed like they had a fair few sitting in their members seating area which is a good thing. I definitely think Renegades crowds are going to be far less than the Stars seeing as they've hardly had any media coverage compared to the Stars. I think a crowd of 20K would be excellent with an average of 15K a pass mark. Still think Geelong would have been a better option for a second Victorian team, as they would have pulled similar crowds to the Renegades and probably would have boosted Stars attendances too.

[St James]

The Sydney teams territorial support is pretty clearly marked. ie. East vs West.
How do Melbourne fans decide which team to support, considering the home grounds are just a few km's apart?

St James

[Rob]

Crowd was fine. I thought they'd be lucky to get over 10k. Good game though.

But I think we'd all concur with the idea that if this comp succeeds, then it's in spite of CA, not because of it.

Nope - as this revamp of the BBL is being driven from CA, it's appropriate they wear the blame if it's a dud, or get the kudos if it works. Early signs are reasonably positive - a little disappointing with crowd figures at the game (with the exception of Perth and Brisbane), but fantastic TV viewing figures.

Invariably CA takes the credit or blame either way. I was just saying that if it does succeed it's not due to any great things done by CA. The TV ratings figures indicate that there is a massive gap in summer for decent quality sport, and filling that with cricket is a no brainer.

More massive ratings last night as well, 330k average to see Renegades v Scorchers. More impressive given most of Perth would still have been at work when it started. And just 58k to watch the A-League match on at the same time (over a shorter time period as well). They must be shitty at this, i've noticed A-League ratings take a bit of a dive in the last week. Not good news when they're trying to negotiate a new TV rights deal.

[Jeffles]

I went to the game last night at the SCG. Nearly 28,000 there and clearly they were expecting less. The catering queues were massive and the O'Reilly and Bradman Stands were opened during the first innings as the crowd was still pouring in. The music was annoying. The game was good as it went down to the wire.

On some of the above points, there are two paths a sport can take. They can be a travelling roadshow where you have a short season in town and spend the rest of the time following the sport on TV from all over the place. This is what happens with tennis, golf, hockey, athletics, swimming etc. The other path is the week-in, week-out sport where you follwo a team regularly over a whole season with the odd event game interspersed. This is what you have with the football codes and basketball.

By splitting the domestic teams into states for some and cities for T20, cricekt will strggle to get the week in, week out even though that is , among other things the stated aim of CA. As a roadshow, they've done amazingly well.

[redback_original]

As a roadshow, they've done amazingly well.

It's hard to understand what their business model is out of those you have outlined.

I've been to both games at the Brisbane Cricket Ground so far and here are my observations.

1. The crowd is predominately a non-cricket crowd. For example, I was one of only two or three people applauding returns to the keeper over the stumps from out in the deep.

2. The biggest roar for anyone in the Brisbane heat side was for Jonothan Brown.

3. BBL is great but we need more stars. Almost 30,000 people at the BCG to see Shane Warne, then half that on Tuesday night.

[Boba Fett]

As a roadshow, they've done amazingly well.

It's hard to understand what their business model is out of those you have outlined.

I've been to both games at the Brisbane Cricket Ground so far and here are my observations.

1. The crowd is predominately a non-cricket crowd. For example, I was one of only two or three people applauding returns to the keeper over the stumps from out in the deep.

2. The biggest roar for anyone in the Brisbane heat side was for Jonothan Brown.

3. BBL is great but we need more stars. Almost 30,000 people at the BCG to see Shane Warne, then half that on Tuesday night.

I had to stop and think what you were referring to when you say "BCG". I know this is the correct term, but I've always seen the ground called the Gabba.

More stars? Like who? If CA wasn't running a Test series and the BBL concurrently we could have Dave Warner playing for a start...