What Happened to the BBL? (Part 1) 

How about that 'Say What You Feel' video that Jagger suggests to watch? Pretty cool huh!

I don’t know why but when the BBL switched from channel 10 to channel 7 it never felt the same. Still love watching my Melbourne Stars be the most cursed team in Australian sport.

Once the season was extended and it switched from channel 10 to 7 with half the games on foxtel it lost its excitement since you couldn’t watch half the games or wouldn’t know when your team was playing

Well the problem is our big star test players don’t play most the season(but they play ipl) so it’s like Australian cricket doesn’t even care to put them in the bbl, like How can you expect to get popular when we play test in the middle of the competition, India don’t play any tests or international games so all the big name players are available and it’s the only cricket at the time so everyone watches. In Australia it’s the second best cricket Going on at any time so no one watches it. If we shorten the seasons to 8 games and then play it in between tests series, it would only need to last for 2-4 weeks then all the international players play every game and all the Australian big names are in as well. This is the main thing I think needs to be done otherwise it’s over for the bbl, because it seems like Cricket Australia doesn’t even support it with how the tests are set and how many matches there is it’s like they are just trying to get as much money as possible. also big name international players would be cheaper because you pay them for less games meaning more excitement and you can see your favourite players from all over the world that’s why it was good, I remember going to every renegades game to see Chris gayle, Aron finch, and Peter Siddle, you just don’t get that feeling from it anymore. And the reason it used to be good is because players didn’t do it for the money, now players got used to the massive pay checks and see ours and decide its not good enough but back in bbl 2 and 3 they would accept that price because t20 players didn’t get millions like they do today. Anyway if you read this thank you for hearing out my opinions on the matter and I wish you an amazing 2023

Please should bbl -aus +nz+png.. & season will should extend at least 3 months like ipl and bbl season time Australian cricket board didn't conduct bilateral

As a viewer who watches from America, I never even realised that the BBL had lost it's audience. Been watching for about nine years now and love it.

Its actually been a lot better this year and I can see it going back to how it was a few years back next year when they back to a smaller fixture

Seven and Foxtel ruined the Big Bash League, by expanding it waaaay too big. Way too many games, games behind a paywall, and tickets ironically getting more expensive when it was originally marketed on value which made it easier to go to because it was cheap. It's a shell of what it once was, but it can have a resurgence. There are plenty of steps to take, one of which already implemented with the upcoming shorter seasons from BBL14 onwards. Hopefully the Big Bash can return to what made it so big originally.

That Head century was insane. That's the BBL in a bottle. The last slash for six was insane.

The BBL has fallen massively since BBL08, recent grand finals have been the same teams with the same results. Season is ofc too long, reducing it to 8 games would be a dream but we are never seeing that again, 10 is the next best. Finals should go back to the simpler top 4. Sadly it’s the natural way of life to see all the stars retire and they have unfortunately left big shoes to fill in terms of talent. Marketing from Channel 7 is absolutely awful as well. They can’t run the games as good as Channel 10 did, ever. Pretty much what I have listed is the reason why I hardly watch the Big Bash anymore. I used to pretty much see every Stars game but I’ve only seen 3 matches this season, not even from start to end

It feels like a really easy answer - Channel 7 bought the rights, and it felt like they just added a whole extra month to the competition. All of a sudden there's just way too much 20/20 being played. Take this year - feels like there's a game every night for 2 - 3 months, and sometimes there's even 2 games on in a day. On top of that, it all feels meaningless - Why are the Strikers playing the Thunder twice in a week? Honestly, what's the point....

The only cricket video where It's hard to find some Indians giving their useless opinions in the comment section.

When Cameron White got boo in front of the 80000 fans at the MCG. Victorian cricket release the next day statement, criticising the fans for boo Cameron White. But Australian cricket want the same fan reaction to the BBL as AFL and the NRL get, but then criticise the fans for acting the way they would if a player left there team for a rivals team in the BBL as fans would in the NRL and AFL, and I think that's the problem Australia cricket want the BBL to be this family event you take your family to in the summer, but also want people to have the same the emotional investment as other sports codes in this country, and it led to mix marketing, and if you want an example. As a Brisbane heat fan who's been watching for almost 10 years, I can't tell you who are main rival is, and there are a lot of people in the same boat as me.

I watch BBL on Kayo and the big difference when BBL left 10 is the presentation and build up. 10 was about family friendly entertainment, every build up the commentators were at the ground and you got a sense of the atmosphere and it built hype really well. On Fox, most games are presented with commentators in a lifeless studio, sitting at a desk and talking stats and reading off a sheet of paper. There's no hype or atmosphere, it's bland and corporate and does little to get all demographics hyped for a game of T20 Cricket. Of course there are other reasons but for me it starts with the broadcasting

the audiences have been okay this season.

Sydney Thunder, most sixes has hit every game this year fyi... it was a draw last game. My bad

Think the AFL is dying to be honest.I’m a huge fan but crowd numbers are getting worse and tv viewership.

When is part 2 out? This is to good to have to wait

Great video. I only really became interested in the BBL recently when viewership has been down. If I had to guess why it’s fallen off I’d say Covid didn’t help, there are way fewer international stars and there’s little investment from the Aus stalwarts. Chris Lynn of all people is leaving early this year to go play in an overseas league!

Doesn't help that the same two teams win every year. After a while it's no fun for fans of the other teams.

I remember losing interest about half way through the 2018-19 season which they had extended. I simply just got sick of it and haven’t followed it since.

Honestly this season hasn't been too bad there's been decent crowds at pretty much all games. I went to the Melbourne derby this year and there was 38000 people there. Atmosphere was electric

Could you have a part 3 on how to save the BBL?

that night of the massive crowd was by far one of the best nights to be out and about in melbourne i've ever experienced. the weather was that perfect point of warm without being hot or cool, it was just after christmas and everyone was feeling relaxed and the TV product was really good too. people just turned up for something to do on a perfect night.

Sad to hear that...I want this sport to be as big as any ...here in the IPL average attendance is 50k...the final reached 105k despite the population factor)..bbl was on every Indian channal ..that McCullum-lynn era ❤️

I would say 70% of the problem is that there are too many games and it takes away the feeling of competition. There is no time to digest the current round and discuss team performance as they are playing every 3rd night.

Yep, agree with the comments here. Too many games in the current format. Cricket isn’t basketball or football, it’s a unique game with a lot of casual fans. Less games would really improve it

So much mayo on some of these calls haha. I know you have to establish a premise of its supposed importance in the Australian sporting landscape in order to drive home your point about its decline but the BBL has never been more than a quick infatuation. Those numbers were never sustainable with a product that lacks any substance. Come on mate, you can't seriously claim that there's a genuine "cross town rivalry" between the Stars and Renegades. They have no actual tangible difference. Red vs Green. That's it. The players change and switch sides every other week and if you're referring to the fact that they play at stadiums 3kms from eachother that's a stretch. The problem with the BBL is nobody actually cares about the results. It's inconsequential who wins. Very few cricket fans could recall a single memorable occurrence in these nothing games after a few years. Guarantee they can tell you how Warnie got his 700th, Alan Donald's run out in the WC or where they were when S Waugh tonned up at the SCG for the final time. The problem with the Big Bash is that it's on every night which completely devalues the importance of the games, the teams stand for nothing other than the colour of the shirt, the nature of T20 cricket means fireworks, music and trying to baseball shot 6s every ball mean more than crafting an over or an innings. It was and never will be a threat to test cricket in Australia.

Cricket is on the decline around the world and that is not going to change. Personally I blame the big three but deep down I think it was just inevitable.

Great vid as always Jagger love this style of content mate keep it up

I think the main problem is that the teams are all owned by CA and are run by state bodies, but now that there are so many t20 leagues going on right now than ever before, the majority have privately-owned franchises teams which are able to grow as brands, offer more money, and attract better players. Also there is normally a lot of international cricket being played in december and january, meaning that there aren't as many big name international stars coming over, especially after they increased the length of the competition, which is why you see a lot of overseas players have short stints in the bbl before going on to play elsewhere.

I don’t think its only bbl its cricket as whole is loosing in Australia tbf I think the present and next generations are really not interested in cricket anymore 🙁

As a scorchers fan fan we still get good crowds at optus, we would easily pack out the WACA

They expanded the tournament in the wrong way. You see, there are two ways of expanding a league: 1. Increase the number of games for the existing teams. 2. Increase the number of teams, keeping the number of games per team the same. CA did the big mistake of going with the first one! This increases number of home games for each team and creates viewer fatigue, given the competition is wrapped up in a month and a half. A better option would be: reduce the comp to 10 games per team but add one extra team, may be Geelong as they have a big stadium and a pretty big sports loving population. Then 9 teams playing 10 games each (5 homes games) and the finals = 45 + 5 = 50 games total. This will still be 5 matches per home venue and there wouldn’t be much viewer fatigue for home crowds. Each team will not be too stressed either in terms of scheduling. Since Geelong is in Victoria, they can create a ‘rivalry’ with the Stars and the Renegades and play them twice (home and away) and keep the attendance up! Then also, another point! Make it privatized. Increase the money. BBL still has huge following in Australia. Adding to that, BBL is aired during the afternoon time in the winter break in cricket crazy India and has a healthy following over there that nobody has ever really talked about. It will definitely generate more money and interest.

I think it was just because of COVID. BBL was going on its merry way before COVID, maybe slightly decreased but not noticeably. All the problems the BBL had in last 2-3 years were COVID related, teams were dysfunctional and players were in and out of sides. Furthermore, it meant one of the most important things for the BBL, crowd and family attendance, could not transpire. If we look at this season, it is not BBL 05, but it is much closer than recent years (in terms of attendance and ratings). It will take a few years to build back up, but it'll be great, and it is great. Cutting the BBL was a mistake.

Cricket as a whole is just dying in Australia. It's sad to see because as an Australian myself, there's no other sport that competes with it. This sport has made me feel things that no other sport has gotten close to

Very similar story to what happened to the Indian Super League (Football/Soccer)

Prime jimmy faulkner was something else

the biggest problem is the Australian cricket team, if the BBL is too lackluster or too not good enough for Australian cricket players to snub, why should anyone else watch it.

What's happening is Australians not following cricket is because of the cheating. They're playing cheats. Cricket Australia is just ignoring all the outside noise and continuing to play them. Cricket fans had enough of it and now not bothering to go. Empty stands saying the lot. No fans no money. Keep continuing boycotting the games. Last test series just proves how weak Australian cricket is. Fancy Warner getting player of the series for one good innings lol. Made 3 runs in 2 innings in the first test lol

Now big bash is growing again this year every match attendance more than 25,000

Bro this year bbl is better the others years also better but just in covid 19 in this year the crowd average is 18000 bro

Too many games & prime Friday & Saturday games are behind paywall.

This guy's never posted a bad video! Keep posting

great video mate, so sad to see bbl dying, keep up the great work!

OMG YES I LOVE THIS GUY! Thanks mate, you tell the history of sport and the backstories. Thanks for making a really entertaining video!

Season is so long, it's too expensive to buy and maintain international AAA players, it is competing with the Aus open in viewership and the marketing is a lot smaller than it was back in 2010. We forget how much marketing goes into AFL to maintain the members for each team, for it to thrive after its inception it needs to be community driven like how footy teams develop talent

It all went to shit when Channel Ten lost the broadcast rights. Simple as that.

how does this man only have 12 k subs

I never really knew why everyone said that the bbl was dead. After all, we have only had half a dozen bbl games played in Perth over the last 2 editions due to our Covid restrictions. I remember that at Optus pre Covid there would regularly be 20,000 - 30,000 people in the stadium, more people that could fit in the WACA, however, I have recently been to Melbourne and now I understand it. I went to a renegades game and was surprised by how empty the stadium was (only 7,000 decided to show up) and the stars couldn’t even sell out junction oval. I don’t know if it’s because here in Perth we are more hungry for it after being starved of getting to watch the scorchers play for a couple years, but this year against the heat we had over 30,000 attend the game. Sad to see it not being followed as closely in the other states though

Amazing video bro, but also include how the crowds and viewership has gone up this season especially

I think the reason why bbl is on the decline is becuase: - extended season - revamped finals - gimmicks (being put in the game)

its shit. they play it during the test matches, the gimmick died. need to make it a standalone comp played before the test matches in october - novemnber with state matches. when theres no other sports on, and so some of our test players can feature

Bbl is also struggling because of lack of Aussie superstars who'll be busy with their national duties

BBL12 has been great so far. But I feel like the season is too long. The season starts a week before the Public School holidays starts and ends after the school holidays have finished. I’m glad that they’re now pushing for a smaller season in BBL14, but the fact that only 34 or so games is going to be free to air out of 44 games or so is laughable. If Cricket Australia wants this league to grow, then why not make every match free to air? (Yes, there’s a channel 7/Kayo/Fox deal ATM). As of recent, Cricket Australia have seem to be making decent decisions for the league, introducing DRS, Removing the X-Factor rule (which no team used) and the Bash Boost rule (which was probably the worst rule in the entire league.) and also introducing smaller seasons from BBL14 onwards. Crowds have been poor, especially from teams like the Sixers, Thunder, Renegades and Stars. (Yes, more people go to watch the derbies but any non derby match from these teams usually get under 10K to at least 15K per game) The Strikers and Scorchers are the only teams that usually attract 20K+ per game, possibly due to the success of the teams. Not to mention that Covid has been a huge issue for the BBL since BBL10, seeing extremely low attendances causing the league to reach a new low in attendances. But overall, BBL12 has been a pretty good season so far, we’ve seen more high scoring/close matches this season but who knows if it’s enough to bring crowds back?

Good onya mate..glad to say I was here from the start

It might be better producing a video on how cricket in general is dying.

For me it was the sandpaper saga. After that I have gone off nearly all cricket and just watch some highlights videos only.

Hi jagger Glad to see you uploaded please upload more

I honestly can’t stand the big bash anyway I don’t even know why 🤷🏽‍♂️ I love test cricket though

Channel 7 taking the rights but having most games played on Fox or Kayo is causing a huge drop in viewership. Its almost unaustralian that its no longer free..

Babe wake up, new Jagger Skilbeck drop

Can’t wait for this gonna be a banger

If most of your star players in the league just leave for most of games for the international duties, how can you lure the fans to watch the game? I've come to Aus for a few years and I've like watching cricket since I came here, but when I tried to be a BBL fan, I saw my team can never have the strongest squad due to those international duties, I'm done.

believe me here in India we love bbl for it's quality

It might be on the rise again really. So many thrillers this season, and it’s shorter next season, might attract more players overseas.

Number of leagues in the world has also changed the hype factor for bbl, and player unavailability has made huge impact.

I feel like what they need to do is shorten the season to a more reasonable length, and move it to a time where it doesn't clash with as many other leagues so that you can actually get talent staying around. I feel that the BBL can never be a serious league when it always plays second fiddle to the other competitions in terms of priority amongst the players.

International players is a bit part, but getting average and blokes who only play a few games is pointless, it’s becoming a first grade comp, and the same teams are good and the others are dogshit

It... might be the switch from channel 10 to 7. 10, with all of its flaws, kinda knew how to market the game. Meanwhile, 7 does not, and will treat it like your run of the mill cricket comp. It sucks. The big bash felt like something special, and now it isn't.

Watched yesterday's match and the stadium was packed .

CA dropped the ball with this. It should have been city vs country. For example, Vic City with games played at the G or Marvel with country games been played in Geelong, Ballarat or Mildura

Even though the bbl isn’t doing well as it once was I’m always gonna watch the BBL even if the heat r horrible

Melbourne and Sydney fans got bored because the Scorchers win too much ;) Seriously though it's because there's too many damn games and everyone is bored halfway through

People worked out hit and giggle cricket is trash and destroys a cricketers skill set? Spin bowlers chuck deliberate pies in the hope of a misshit instead of another huge six.. that's not how you bowl. Batsmen can no longer play defensively fast bowlers bowling deliberately wides and full tosses, it's just.. sheit.

Wow I was just wondering last week why people hate on the bbl these days, and this video was a NOTHING BURGER

Interesting, to be honest as a cricket fan I've never rated T20 and only ever watched a handful of BBL games. I didn't realise it was struggling.

Domestic cricket in Australia is concerning for the future of the game. The WA dominance isn't good at alln

Just like any manufactured TV series, it has just wained and original viewers lose interest as the story just repeats and characters move on.

If national players will not play your country ' s league then it ' s doomed

Cricket is the greatest most entertaining sport in the world ❤

Too many games and not enough big name star players. BBL skill quality has decreased a lot

another reason bbl is falling off is because other sports are booming such as Hobart getting more people to Jackjumpers games compared to the cricket.

Cricket is the greatest most entertaining sport in the world ❤

I think it’s better but maybe cause I’m picking good bets haha😂

It do look like it’s gonna be Scorchers v Sixers again this year too

Now make new video on rise,fall and rise of bbl cricket 🏏

Idk it just hasn’t felt the same since 10 lost it

It seems to me that Perth scorchers dominate every year and this year again, that's why I'm not watching it's becoming a joke

Cricket is most popular sport in Australia ❤

The Big Bash is back, it’s been great this season!

So much padding in part 1. What a waste of my life

Such a good video can’t wait for part 2

The power surge gimmick is of no use

I think the bbl resurgence this season

For me, it’s just too predictable, sure it’s sport, but for me it feels like generally, when you see the game on, you’ll know who’s going to win, there’s not enough balance, or maybe there’s just not enough teams, but I still absolutely love watching the Big Bash, even through all its flaws

Great video jagger I think there’s a few problems the league needs to address. I just bought the BBL season 12 magazine, and it is littered with find-a-words and all sorts of kid activities. I think the league is too focused on the kids. Its it a bit hard to watch when the batsmen come out to ten kids waving flags- having no idea what’s going on. The league also needs to stop the gimmicks. T20 cricket is already entertaining, no need for X factor or bash boost points- nobody could understand them anyway. Third of all- more big name players. Nobody knows half the Melbourne Stars team. It’s a good way to advertise a team by saying “Shane Warnes team” or “Joe Roots team” instead of bringing in all these random players in the BBL draft, like (no offence) nobody has heard of Luke Wood, or Patrick Dooley ect. There’s still time for the league to recover though. As long as it doesn’t run out of money.

U know of zlatan respect

Mate they are still getting 20,000-50,000 attending games and over a 900,000 average watchers per game mate. I work for the BBL.

Im one of the original Renegades Extreme team members for half time entertainment.... every home game was electric back then.