Cricket Australia is exploring an expansion of the Big Bash League from eight to 10 teams as growing private investment interest opens the door to a potentially significant reshaping of the competition, according to an exclusive report by The Guardian’s Matt Hughes.
The possibility of adding two franchises has emerged alongside Cricket Australia’s renewed effort to bring external capital into the BBL. While expansion remains at an early stage and no prospective markets have yet been identified, discussions inside Australian cricket reflect increasing confidence that the league can attract established investors from the global franchise ecosystem.
Private investment could reshape the BBL
The immediate focus remains the ownership of the BBL’s existing eight clubs rather than expansion. Cricket Australia is pursuing a hybrid approach that would give individual states the ability to bring private investors into their franchises, replacing an earlier attempt to secure support for a broader league-wide privatisation model.
That original proposal failed to win sufficient backing in April after opposition from New South Wales and Queensland. South Australia subsequently advanced an alternative framework under which states could independently decide whether to sell stakes in their BBL clubs rather than being required to participate in a collective process.
Cricket Australia has since made progress towards building support for that approach. Victoria, Western Australia and Tasmania are strongly in favour of private investment, although four of the six states would need to support the process for franchise sales to move forward.
The CA Board is set to continue considering the direction of the project as the governing body seeks a structure capable of accommodating different positions among its state associations.
Global investors strengthen the expansion case
The commercial potential surrounding the BBL has become clearer as Cricket Australia tests investor appetite internationally. US investment bank Raine Group has been appointed to work on the proposed sales process, with initial analysis indicating BBL franchises could attract valuations of up to AU$200 million (approx. US$142m).
Big Bash officials also met owners connected to the Indian Premier League and The Hundred during a visit to England last month. Those discussions have strengthened Cricket Australia’s belief that established franchise investors have serious interest in entering the Australian competition.
That demand has helped bring expansion into the conversation. Rather than simply restructuring ownership of the existing eight clubs, a successful investment process could eventually provide Cricket Australia with the commercial foundation to consider adding two more franchises.
The concept remains exploratory. Cricket Australia has not selected potential locations for new teams, meaning any move towards a 10-team BBL would require considerably more work beyond securing approval for private investment.
The Hundred provides a powerful commercial precedent
The transformation of The Hundred has provided Australian cricket with a recent example of the valuations that established cricket properties can generate when opened to external capital. The England and Wales Cricket Board raised almost £1 billion through sales of stakes in its eight Hundred franchises, with four attracting investment from existing IPL owners.
Cricket Australia would take a different route. Rather than conducting a simultaneous centralised auction of all BBL franchises, states would be able to pursue transactions individually, creating the possibility of different ownership arrangements across the competition.
Cricket Victoria has already signalled its intention to pursue a complete sale of the Melbourne Renegades while retaining control of the Melbourne Stars. Indian investors are expected to be a particular focus for the Renegades process.
The BBL’s connection with the Indian market is also expanding beyond potential ownership. The Melbourne Renegades and Perth Scorchers are scheduled to open the 2026-27 season in Chennai, taking a BBL fixture to India for the first time and further positioning the competition in cricket’s largest commercial market.
State divisions have complicated the ownership push
The latest expansion discussions follow months of negotiations over how private capital could enter the BBL without forcing every state into the same ownership structure.
As previously reported by cricexec, the process faced renewed uncertainty in July when Western Australia, Tasmania and Victoria challenged the position of New South Wales and Queensland that Project Nazare, Cricket Australia’s pathway towards BBL private investment, should pause while unresolved governance and commercial matters were addressed. The three states instead supported progressing preparatory and market-related work alongside those negotiations.
That disagreement followed an earlier breakthrough. As reported previously by cricexec, Cricket Australia and all six state associations reached in-principle support in June for a self-determination model allowing individual states to decide whether and when to seek private investment. Formal progress remained dependent on resolving four areas: BBL governance, Cricket Australia governance reform, an agreement with the Australian Cricketers’ Association, and funding and distribution arrangements between CA and the states.
Those conditions underline why the path towards private ownership — and ultimately any expansion flowing from it — remains a multi-stage process rather than a settled restructuring of the league.
BBL expansion remains tied to investment outcome
For Cricket Australia, the prospect of a 10-team competition adds another strategic dimension to a private investment project that began primarily as a debate about the ownership and commercial potential of the existing franchises.
Strong valuations and interest from experienced international franchise operators could give the governing body greater scope to consider new markets while bringing additional capital and commercial expertise into the BBL. But the ownership framework must first navigate the competing priorities of Cricket Australia, the states and players before potential expansion can move beyond its exploratory phase.
With investor discussions continuing and the hybrid model gaining momentum, the immediate decision facing Australian cricket remains how private capital will enter the Big Bash. The outcome of that process will help determine whether the BBL’s next era involves not only new owners, but two new teams.
