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Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
This is your town. This is your station. This is Waitley.
Phil Davis is going to join me at 11. He has immersed himself in the AFL's futures documents, the four concepts for what a future might look like in terms of the fixture. But there's a little bit more in it than that as well. It sort of sets the guidelines as to what the objectives are. So Phil will take us through that at 11.
It's funny how sports sort of have the same conversations at the moment. How does cricket plot the future here in Australia and how does that relate to the BBL whilst we're in the middle of plenty of rancour around the privatisation debates? The man who's in charge of the BBL and the WBBL is Alistair Dobson and it's great to have Alistair in the studio. Welcome. Morning, Gerard.
Great to be here and talking Big Bash in June. Yes, June. And so it's not terribly far away. Do you have any trepidation about staging these seasons against a backdrop of such uncertainty?
Yeah, no, I think we're really excited about the season ahead. I mean, the core of what makes the BBL and the WBBL great remains. It's fun, family entertainment, summer nights at the cricket and great entertainment and great cricket. Those things will hold true and will hold us in good stead this year.
Even if there is some disruption and uncertainty in the background, we think the strength of both our competitions will hold us in good stead.
Do you think there's a risk that it will strain the goodwill and the affection toward the competition in the way that you've just described?
I think the season will end up delivering some really interesting storylines. There's players and people around the game with a lot to prove and highly motivated to have big seasons and, I guess, deliver results for their teams, particularly in Melbourne, and I'm sure we'll get to that. But, yeah, you'd never take for granted the fans' engagement and passion for any competition, and the BBL ā
and the WBBL are both fan-focused competitions. They were built with the fans in mind, and we've got to remain as true to that as we can. So those fans at the moment are at the very least sceptical about privatisation. Yeah, we understand that. I think globally the game's going through a pretty seismic change. That hasn't necessarily hit Australian shores yet, but it's going to, and I think...
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Chapter 2: How does the BBL plan to navigate uncertainty this season?
Yeah, I mean, I think they're the twists and turns I spoke about a minute ago. And I think both teams and both teams from both clubs, men's and women's, are set up in good shape from a list perspective. They're going to put really competitive, strong teams on the park. If you look at the young talent that are going to bring the renegades to life in the men's side and then some...
established stars on the BBL side for the, for the stars. I think both those teams are in great shape. We've got to let, we've got to do some work now to, I guess, to bring those fans back on that journey for, for the clubs with, with Cricket Victoria.
And I think once they start to see the season come to life and for what's true for the BBL, which is fun family entertainment, summer nights of the cricket, those things will hold true and big crowds at the MCG are going to be part of our season.
In the moments where it was announced the merge and then what was going to happen, you sort of go, so the Renegades are going to hold a list together whilst the Stars become something else having merged. Is there any capacity or necessity to allow flexibility on the lists of those two clubs heading into this year to go back and forward between them?
No, our list and contracting rules are rock solid. And whichever direction those clubs were going to go or the vision that Cricket Victoria have for the future of those clubs, what is true is that the two lists are in good shape and are contracted and players established on that. We have player movement rules and opportunities like any league.
And I think, but as we sit here both on the men's and women's side, those lists are in good shape. And both clubs are looking forward to contracting opening in the coming weeks to have a crack at the overseas player market, which is an interesting space at the moment. Um, and there'll be competitive. So there's no draft this year for international players.
We're still working through the finer points of our, of our contracting rules, Jared. That's the last part of, of the, of the, I guess the, the work with the ACA to set that down. There's the overseas market is changing as quickly as any other part. And so the overseas draft has held us in great stead in bringing the right talent in.
We're putting the finishing touches on whether that does or doesn't stay and whatever's right for, for the competition is where we'll land.
What is the likelihood of being able to get the best international talent to this year's BBL?
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Chapter 3: What are the implications of privatisation for the BBL?
We're close. We've got a few things to work through and finalise, and we're optimistic about that. We'll be looking to... make some announcements hopefully in the, again, in the coming weeks alongside the schedule. But, um, yeah, it's been, it's been amazing to see the level of interest, not just from India, but around the world in the future of the BBL.
I think that while that comes with some interesting discussions on ownership and the like, what it does reinforce is just how passionate and popular the BBL is globally.
What would you need that to look like? To be a success back home, it's easy to understand what a success would look like as a one-off game in India. For whoever those teams are and for the starting point, to resonate with people back home, what would it need to look like?
Yeah, it needs to look like a BBL game. I think we... We have a unique product on the global landscape. There's nothing like a BBL game in world cricket. You can go to any other league and you'll see different things and different strengths, but a BBL game in Australia is a unique and powerful product, and we can see that in our crowds.
We want people to turn on the telly if we end up executing this game. Turn on the telly and see that looks like a BBL game with an Indian flair, I guess. If it is in Chennai, for example, that has a unique... They've got a unique crowd and passionate and there'll be lots of yellow Dhoni shirts in the crowd, I'm sure.
But first and foremost, it needs to be a great experience for our players if we do it and a big crowd and then look back into our Australian fans like that's an amazing BBL experience, even if it's not in Australia.
And again, it sort of goes to the question, will it resonate? Will people resent the fact that it's not here or will they go, this is a big deal on an elevated stage?
Yeah.
Yeah, I mean, I think it's the latter. I mean, we'll find out if we end up doing it. I think, you know, part of the DNA of the BBL is from day one has been taking chances, taking risks, innovating and trying new things. Even 15 years in, we've got new rules coming in this year. We've got new contracting models.
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Chapter 4: How is the BBL addressing fan engagement amidst changes?
And while there's upside still to be squeezed out of the BBL, there's nothing as big as the opportunity in WBBL. So as we go through, if we go down that path, if we get to the point of inviting outside investment into the game, one of the key questions we'll have as we start to talk to those potential partners will be their approach to the WBBL and their passion for women's cricket.
Are we expecting the WBBL season to start immediately after the footy grand finals? No, it'll be late October.
So we get a few weeks in and that'll go through to the first weekend of December, which is sort of the traditional slot for WBBL alongside some international fixtures this summer.
Oh, that's right. It's the international fixtures that land. Yeah.
And it's shaping up really well. Again, we've got. all the best players in the world playing the WBBL, including, you know, the best Indian players, which we don't have on the men's side. And yeah, the opportunity to grow that remains.
And the BBL final, you've sort of settled it into a nice place. How close can you tell us? Where will it be and should we expect it to be? I'm trying to think where it's been, the Sunday night?
Yeah, it'll be on or around the long weekend in January. We're still finalising exact dates, but it'll run from mid-December through to that last weekend of January, which has been... a great slot for us. We're in the future.
We don't know where that will sit because we might look to adjust some of the scheduling, depending on if we've brought partners in the game and the opportunity to create more opportunity for the, for the test players to come back and play in the BBL. That's all part of the mix of what's going on at the moment.
And that won't be possible this summer with the Indian test series immediately on the back of New Zealand, will it?
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