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Would Cricket Australia benefit from private investment?
Ian Healy • March 4th, 2025 12:45 pm
Cricket - to privatise it or not?
England Cricket has recently announced its sale of 49% of its eight regional 100-ball competition franchises, netting them $1.9 billion into the game. Mumbai Indians owners, Sunrisers Hyderabad, Lucknow Supergys, Delhi Capitals and Chelsea Football Club bought in as part owners.
Now, Cricket Australia's consideration of privatisation and expansion will bring a raft of new stresses and decisions as well as money at every level. My mind leapt when I heard about this to the All Blacks and their part sale to Silver Lake in 2023.
It was an initial investment of $200 million in exchange for an 8.58% share and the commercial rights of the All Blacks were included. New Zealand Rugby and the New Zealand Rugby Players Association say they plan to invest in the game at all levels.
Stakes in Manchester City, New York Knicks, New York Rangers are now all parts of the Silver Lake portfolio. Once in place, all levels of rugby had their hands out.
School rugby standards are slipping from all reports and the financial distribution doesn't seem to be as promised at all levels of New Zealand rugby. Questions for cricket, who will invest and how do you value a sporting competition so highly that it's worth so much? When the investors are approved, how do they operate? Do they wait for revaluation?
Only to then realise the funding value increase in what they've invested in? And how are these investments distributed across the franchise world? In cricket, Perth, Brisbane and Adelaide are different, for example, to the smaller drawing teams. This includes Hobart, the two Sydney teams although the Sydney Sixers is probably alright and also the Melbourne ones.
So where do such funds need to be shared?
Is it to develop cricketers? Is it to buy profile players to further re-establish the competition standing? Australia wants to have the second best T20 comp in the world and maybe this money can enable that to happen much better than it is these days.
For other pathways of cricket in every state, this system is huge with development of cricketers that are good enough to play at the top level. That takes a lot of investment in itself.
So the investment needs to be huge, just as the system is, so that the value moving ahead is so good that cricket in Australia becomes number one in the world. How can we get all those questions answered and get some clarity around whether to privatise or not?
When big money comes into a sport and new owners, is it good or bad?
