Canberra cricket could be calling for its own Ivan Slavich in a bid to prove the ACT could be a sustainable home for a Big Bash League franchise.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
While Cricket Australia and the BBL have made no commitments to add new teams in the foreseeable future, Fairfax Media understands Canberra meets a host of operational considerations.
The commercial viability of the franchise could be Canberra's only stumbling block, with BBL officials intent on ensuring Cricket ACT would not suffer financially.
Slavich led the A-League4Canberra bid and raised $5 million in government and corporate support and foundation memberships.
Canberra joins a host of other cities on the lookout for a BBL franchise to call its own, with Geelong, Fremantle and the Gold Coast also expressing interest.
Head of the Big Bash League Anthony Everard says expansion discussions are hypothetical with no immediate plans to introduce new clubs to the eight-team competition.
Everard says "the key criteria" Cricket Australia and the BBL would start negotiations with is a lack of elite cricket in the region, with Canberra getting one men's international per season at best.
Canberra will not host an international next summer despite being midway through a four-year deal to have international cricket played in the capital.
While formal criteria has not been issued, informal discussions suggest a venue that is satisfactory from a cricket operations, spectator, and broadcast perspective is a must.
Canberra's Manuka Oval has already hosted a BBL final and international day-night fixtures, and the Prime Minister's XI will be played as a Twenty20 for the first time in February.
"We're looking at areas of the country that perhaps aren't serviced as well with elite cricket as the major metropolitan capital cities," Everard said.
"I guess that would really be the key criteria that we would start the conversation with.
"We've had ongoing discussions for the past five years with different parts of the country, Canberra included, in relation to their appetite to have a BBL team if and when a new licence was issued.
"We'd want to make sure that any new team wasn't a drain on a state association's finances, and in fact had the opportunity to make a positive contribution financially to Australian cricket.
"Then there would be discussions around opportunities to grow participation, attract new fans, etcetera."
Everard says the BBL is considering expanding the number of games before increasing the number of teams, but next year's schedule is yet to be ironed out.
The ACT government is pushing for a BBL game at Manuka Oval after Canberra was left off the international schedule in an Ashes summer.
Everard says Canberra is being kept in mind as a potential venue for a one-off game, where a sell-out crowd would give the nation's capital some momentum in the race for a BBL licence.
A sell-out crowd of 11,837 witnessed the BBL|04 final at Manuka Oval and sustaining similar attendance figures would be vital to ensure the viability of a franchise in Canberra.
"I think it's really important to manage expectations even though there has been quite a bit of talk around the possibilities of BBL expansion," Everard said.
"In saying that I think the simple answer is, one of the reasons the BBL has succeeded since BBL|01 has been the focus that we've had on the strategy, which is around growing the appeal and fan base of cricket within Australia.
"I think as we contemplate where the league may go in the future, we're really going to stick to that strategy."
Cricket Australia have previously indicated that BBL expansion would be a package deal in that a city would need to sustain both men's and women's teams.
