'The days of BBL just being an Australian league are over'

The BBL sees taking the tournament opener to Chennai, home to one of the most successful franchises in the IPL's history, as a major step in establishing the league as a global product.

After Chepauk was locked in to host the opener between Melbourne Renegades and Perth Scorchers on December 12, the response to ticket sales has been so encouraging that it's already the "highest-selling game of the season at the moment," according to Alistair Dobson, the head of Big Bash Leagues.

CA is setting its ambitions high for a crowd, hoping to push for a sellout at a ground that holds around 35,000 people.

"Very confident [about raising the profile of the BBL this season]. I think we all can see all cricket fans can see the globalisation of T20 cricket and the importance for the biggest of leagues, including the IPL and the BBL, to be able to exist and perform on a global stage, not just in our own country," Dobson said during a zoom interaction on Friday. "So whether that's from a fan perspective that we want fans all around the world tuning into the BBL... but equally and importantly that all the best players from around the world want to come and be part of our competition - whether that's our men's league or our women's league.

"So, the days of the BBL just being an Australian league where we exist and grow in our own backyard are over and the BBL is and continues to grow as a global league that has fans and impact around the world."

As many as 2,000 tickets were sold out last weekend in the first 30 minutes of sale, leading to further tickets being made available to the public. Dobson feels that such a reception could give the BBL an edge over a number of other franchises competitions around the world.

The NFL and NBA are among the world's leading organisations to play outside their traditional borders, with the MCG hosting Los Angeles Rams and San Francisco 49ers earlier this September in what was the league's first match on Australian soil. The BBL is now going somewhere no cricket league has really gone before - the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) is closest with its Florida-based games which ended in 2018.

"We believe the BBL is in the top couple of leagues globally and certainly part of the objective here is reinforcing that. There's no better place to do that than in India amongst the most passionate T20 fans and cricket fans in the world. I think the response... We know the BBL is already really popular in India," Dobson said.

The Chennai weather, however, could potentially be a logistical hurdle for the BBL opener in December. Mid-December comes towards the end of Chennai's monsoon season and wet weather alerts have already gone out to different parts of the city for the onset of monsoon this month.

There were also some showers in Chennai this week, in the lead-up to Tamil Nadu's home stretch for the Ranji Trophy, India's premier red-ball competition. Dobson confirmed that the BBL has not allocated any reserve days for the opening fixture and added that the weather is a manageable risk right now, with the league exploring options to allow extra playing time compared to normal BBL matches.

"We've certainly taken lots of advice from the locals and are really optimistic that we'll be in good shape, but clearly you can't predict the weather," Dobson said. "We won't have a reserve day. We are working through some playing conditions that might allow us to extend the playing time if required.

"We're really committed to getting a game played and we think there's some ways we can do that, albeit not with a reserve day given the nature of the BBL. A bit like the IPL where the show rolls on pretty quick to the next stop. We don't have scope for a reserve day, but we're doing everything we can to make sure we get a game in for sure... The afternoon game [2.40pm IST start] does give us the scope to add some more length to the playing time if needed."

Dobson also hasn't ruled out the possibility of India hosting a Women's Big Bash League (WBBL) game in the future. "First and foremost, getting this year's BBL game executed successfully is clearly our priority and where we're putting all our effort," he said. "We do believe in the WBBL and it is, in our view, the best cricket league for women in the world. So we would be open to, in the future, the possibility of bringing a WBBL game to different parts of the world.

"Right now, our seasons don't align in the context of double-headers and so that's probably not on the cards. But certainly, we also know through the WPL how popular our women's players are in India and clearly how good they are. So, I'd never say never on that."