Malcolm Speed

We need to be able to compete with the other leagues.

So I've come around a bit, Gerard.

I think if we could see enough guardrails, enough provisos in place, I think...

I could support the SEL group.

Now, the sorts of things I'm talking about, and I think the best example of this is the Australian Olympic Committee received $88 million for hosting the Sydney Olympics.

They've set up a foundation there where they've now turned that, they've funded, they've invested it well, they've funded their operations, a lot of their operations through

made grants to athletes, that sort of thing.

It now sits at $170 million and it's a future fund there that underpins the Australian Olympic Committee.

Now, if there's $600, $800 million available to cricket here, if you could put $400 million into a fund like that,

and invest it wisely and out of that pay an increase in the salary cap, perhaps two million per team.

Now we get a bit blasé about millions and billions these days.

Now a million is still a lot of money but you put an extra two million into that and suddenly the Australian salary cap would be competitive with the hundred.

It would be better than most of the other leagues.

It would be very attractive.

But I'd want to know that that was happening.

There's nothing worse than seeing a sport sell out to private equity and then the money evaporates.

And we've seen that with some sports in different parts of the world and in Australia.

The second thing I'd want to see, and this is difficult, I think there'd need to be a change to the governance structure for the BBL.

The BBL is operated, it's governed by the Cricket Australia board.

So there is no separate BBL board.