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CA chief Sutherland defends BBL despite suffering big losses

Cricket Australia chief executive James Sutherland has claimed it is a silly argument to suggest the Big Bash League is draining the game despite losing 10 million dollar a year.

Sydney: Cricket Australia (CA) chief executive James Sutherland has claimed it is a silly argument to suggest the Big Bash League (BBL) is draining the game despite losing 10 million dollar a year.
Sutherland said that the BBL would make a significant profit when it is sold as part of a new television rights deal at the end of this season, News.com.au reports. Sutherland added they are not concerned about the numbers and are confident with the numbers they will take to the market if they don’t do a deal with Channel Nine before then. Sutherland then refused to discuss figures but analysts believe the Big Bash is worth 10s of millions as part of an expected 500 million pound, five-year deal. This is despite crowds and ratings being significantly down for the second year of the revamped eight-team Big Bash. Sutherland said he is not ignoring that they are off a little bit but these numbers from a pay television point of view are absolutely outstanding. He added that these numbers are extra-ordinary when you compare them to (pay TV) AFL or NRL or A League ratings. Sutherland claimed that domestic cricket in Australia cost 30 million dollar a year to run as an investment and the new Big Bash was costing little more than the old state-based version. ANI