CA, NSW meet informally over BBL privatisation bid

Cricket Australia (CA) chair Mike Baird and Cricket New South Wales (NSW) Chair John Knox met informally on Monday, May 11, to discuss further the disputes and pointers surrounding the privatisation bid by the Big Bash League.

As reported by ESPNcricinfo, the meeting took place after NSW and Queensland rejected the initial proposal for opening stakes in the BBL franchises to private investors. South Australia is still in deliberation over this proposal, while Western Australia, Victoria and Tasmania have accepted the initial terms and are in favour of the next phase, which would involve testing the market for potential valuations of the respective stakes. 

It was further reported that NSW have expressed their displeasure at how they have been positioned in this debate in the public eye. CA and NSW agree on multiple issues, including fairer and better remuneration in the Big Bash League, which would bridge the gap between the money earned by local players and overseas players.

NSW presented a proposal to self-fund the game to CA at a state executives meeting in March 2026. While the finer details of the meeting are unknown, it was reported that NSW suggested an increase in revenue could come from ‘line items, including broadcast, ticketing and commercial partnerships’ and ‘receiving fair value for its [wagering] product fees’. 

“One of the things I am proud of is, despite some tension in the system, relationships are really strong. We’ve got alternate views, but those views are well heard. They’re well understood. I maintain really good relationships, as does our board, with all of our counterparts, and that’s fine, because healthy debate is a good thing for cricket. We should be debating these issues. These are big conversations to have, so we’ve got to be having them together. We just should be having them in the right tone, which we are,” CA CEO Todd Greenberg said, as reported by the aforementioned source.

NSW Chair Knox finds himself in an interesting position, being a private investor seated on the board of Trent Rockets in the Hundred in England. Knox is a partner and head of Australia/New Zealand at Ares Management, one of two private equity firms that agreed an AUD 75 million deal to buy a 49% stake in Rockets.