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| Will fans of Dave Warner stay with the Sydney Thunder if he switches to the Sydney Sixers next year? |
"People are watching, but does anyone care?" - The Boundary Rider
That, for me, is the big question that has come out of the first weekend of the Big Bash League.
After disappointing crowds on Friday and Saturday night, Cricket Australia’s spinners came out in force on Sunday and this morning talking up the TV ratings. Cricket Australia spokesman Peter Young has this morning spruked that TV ratingsd are more than double last year. Likewise, after two smaller than expected crowds, the Big Bash project manager Mick McKenna was also talking TV viewers:
”What’s really important for us is the total engagement, the combination of the number of people at the game and watching on TV indicates to us how strongly people are connecting with it,”
Player continuinty will not only help endear supporter loyalty, it will also help generate the rilvaries that are so important in sport. Particuarly the cross town rilvaries. Rilvaries are created on the field and off field in the stands through passionate supporters – not in PR boards rooms. For example, the Sydney Sixers and Thunder have generated a good bit of Twitter rilvary, but, given they haven’t even each other played on the field as yet it all seems a bit fake. And then, what happens to the rilvalry when half a dozen players swap sides next year?
I see where Cricket Australia are going with the new football style Big Bash teams. However, in going this way, they really are starting from scratch. They’ve jettisoned well known state brands and teams for a whole stack of flash new colours and names. There is also no doubt the competition has been marketed very well. I’m sure the marketers have ticked every box and could give a really good powerpoint on the strategy – but do cricket fans really care if the Sydney Thunder will beat the Sydney Sixers? Are they reaally engaged and connecting with the Big Bash League?
The Boundary Rider,
You make a very vaild point that Cricket Australia will have to iron out the creases with when it comes to player signing next year, it could get ugly.
ReplyDeleteI would say that no, we don't care that a team beats another team in this competition, it is just for the entertainment,well at least for us fans, but do we actually really care when say...New South Wales wins the Sheffield Shield or Ryobi Cup? (And I'm talking about the audiences drawn to T20 Domestic games)
The following weeks will be critical. Will the initial interest stick or was it mostly a curiosity where no one cared much who the winner waqs. If that proves to be the case CA are potentially looking at a disaster. What then?
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