Australian Cricketers Association rejects BBL privatisation bid proposal

The Australian Cricketers Association (ACA) has rejected Cricket Australia’s proposal to privatise the Big Bash League.

ACA chief executive Paul Marsh had sent an email to Australian players on the evening of Sunday, June 14, which elaborated the ACA’s position on the matter, following meetings between ACA board members and player delegates.

This comes after a landmark decision saw Cricket Victoria decide to merge the Melbourne Renegades and Melbourne Stars into a single franchise and sell their second stake.

“Australian cricket is not currently united on the right path to privatisation. In particular, the recent upheaval around Cricket Victoria’s proposed sale of the [Melbourne] Renegades and merger with the [Melbourne] Stars reinforces our view that the game is not yet aligned on an approach that will deliver the appropriate value in the privatisation process,” Marsh wrote in the email, as reported by ESPNcricinfo.

A high-level meeting between Cricket Australia executives and state association chairs is set to take place on Monday, June 15, where a vote is to be held, which would decide the next step of the BBL Privatisation venture, which would allow states to pursue independent avenues on whether to open their teams to private investment or not.

Marsh stated that there needs to be more accommodations for player revenue share management and better salary structures for players, and expresses their failure to accept the privatisation bid without a better accommodation of player needs.

“ACA continues to believe privatisation can work. However, CA’s current MOU proposal to us does not improve on the existing player revenue share arrangement, does not provide for salary increases for all player cohorts, and fails to address the broader priorities players presented to CA. Until CA’s offer improves we cannot consider accepting what is in front of us. We are not aligned with the current direction of the process or the proposed MOU. We do not believe it will deliver the best outcome for the game or players,” the email added.

As further reported by ESPNcricinfo, Marsh mentioned that the ACA are in discussions with CA to work on improving player salary structures and the disparity between domestic and overseas stars in the league.

CA CEO Todd Greenberg, who was ACA CEO before Marsh, said that the pay disparity was the reason privatisation was explored. The ACA wishes to cooperate with the State Associations and CA to work on better deals that take the players’ needs into consideration. 

“With privatisation unable to proceed without ACA agreement, our plan from here is to continue working with CA and the States to address the above issues so we can work towards a deal that is good for both players and the game. It is likely this will take some time and we ask players to be patient as we do this. Given that any sale of these teams is forever, we need to get this right, now.”

The ACA will also meet with players of the Melbourne Stars and Renegades to discuss issues that arose from Cricket Victoria’s proposal. The players expressed their concerns about not being told of the board’s decision to merge the two teams.