Cricket Australia chief executive James Sutherland admitted there was a temptation to expand the popular Big Bash League to include regional teams to feed the insatiable appetite for the competition and engage even more fans to solidify cricket's status as the nation's No.1 sport.
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The Big Bash League's fourth season starts next month and with statistics showing the T20 competition enjoyed such things as a 300 percent spike in its television audience during 2013-14, and boom free-to-air ratings (931,703 nationally) and that droves of first-timers were lured to games, it is a sure-fire winner.
After soccer reiterated during the week that it's mission was to become Australia's dominant sport, Sutherland acknowledged expanding the Big Bash League was a temptation to be resisted for the time being. However, he said CA had a strategy to build upon its record number of participants, the surge in female player numbers, massive attendance figures at matches and lucrative television ratings.
"I'd love to be in a position to expand the Big Bash League, we know from the success of the competition that there [are] a number of regional areas and cities that would like the prize of joining the competition when opportunities arise," Sutherland told Fairfax Media.
"However, we still see ourselves in a position of establishing the competition, we want to be on a really firm footing before we go [to the next level].
"We have extremely good numbers [that highlights the success of the BBL] to support [possible expansion] but we want to properly establish these teams, and their support base, over the next few years before we take the next step.
"It's forseeable that we will grow but it won't be in the short-term."
Among the statistics that show the success of the Big Bash League:
- One in five people who attended a BBL match last summer experienced their first taste of elite cricket
- 24 per cent of supporters who attended games came from the lucrative junior market
- 50 per cent of the spectators attended games with their family members
- The preferred format for children aged between five and 15.
- 51 per cent of females attended their first T20 match.
There were other success stories for cricket with figures showing:
- A record 1,105,709 participants - a 16 percent growth - played cricket
- A 300 per cent growth in the T20 blast (junior) participation
- Almost 4000 cricket clubs nationwide
- 113 new female club teams were formed throughout 2013-14
- 1.7 million people attended cricket matches
- 19 million television viewers watched cricket during the summer
- A world record 91,112 fans attended the MCG for the Boxing Day Test.
Sutherland said while buoyed by the success his organisation took nothing for granted.
"We have our eyes wide open," he said of building upon the numbers. "We're very clear about our vision and it's [that] cricket remains Australia's favourite sport and is a sport for all Australians.
"We need to make sure we have a diverse fan and participation base and the starting point is males and females - and we have made giant strides forward there [with over 30 percent female participation last year]."
