Ash Barty’s shock retirement turns summer sports TV rights fight on its head

Ash Barty’s bombshell decision to retire has changed the TV rights game. What is happening behind the scenes? Find out now.

Ash Barty’s shock retirement is set to change the shape of Australia’s billion dollar sporting TV landscape, with cricket the lucky beneficiary.

Channel 7 declared back in February that it was prepared to gun for the Australian Open rights once again, setting up the prospect of a fierce bidding war with tennis broadcaster Channel 9.

It was a chilling reality check for Cricket Australia, because when asked whether Channel 7 could take back tennis and still hold its current cricket rights at the same time, chief executive James Warburton confirmed the answer was “no”.

Cricket was, and still is, put on notice that its $1.18 billion TV rights deal with Channel 7 and Fox Sports – due to expire in two summers’ time – is under enormous threat of being blown up.

However, the looming showdown for summer TV rights has taken a dramatic twist following Australian Open champion Barty’s bombshell announcement last month that she was quitting tennis at age 25.

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Ash Barty’s retirement call has major implications for the value of tennis broadcasting in Australia. Picture: Liam Kidston.

Broadcast industry insiders have confirmed that Barty’s retirement will be a massive game changer, with networks genuinely concerned how tennis can replace a figure who captured the hearts and minds of the nation with her blockbuster appeal and was on the verge of an era of dominance.

Barty was a knockout ratings winner every time she played this January. But now she’s unlikely to ever return to the circuit, has the air gone out of the balloon for tennis?

How aggressive might Channel 7’s pursuit be now?

There is no real prospects on the horizon for Australia in the short term with Nick Kyrgios’ star stagnating and the chances of him being a major force in grand slams fading.

Kyrgios is first week entertainment value, but with Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer and Serena Williams in their twilight and Novak Djokovic a pariah, tennis suddenly doesn’t feel like the sport of the future.

However, cricket is itself at a major crossroads.

The alarming decline of the Big Bash League has broadcasters fed-up, while the neglected state of white-ball internationals is another threat to CA’s hopes of maintaining the value of its mega TV deal.

The Perth Scorchers celebrate winning BBL 11. Picture: Getty Images

Unless it’s a World Cup, Australia’s biggest names are routinely rested en masse from ODIs and T20 internationals, and it’s becoming a huge issue for the game.

The reality is Cricket Australia’s administrators who negotiate with broadcasters have very little control over the quality of the products they’re spruiking. When it comes to the BBL and white-ball internationals, CA chiefs are at the mercy of scheduling and their own high-performance unit, who will rest and manage players through home summers with no thought to how that impacts on broadcast dollars.

Crowd numbers in Sydney for the summer’s recent T20 series against Sri Lanka were embarrassingly low and despite the desperate attempts of organisers to try to feign a big stage atmosphere with fireworks and flame throwers, there was no hiding the empty stands and the missing superstars on the field which are making these matches an irrelevance.

When push comes to shove priority is given to the Indian Premier League. White-ball cricket in Australia is being eroded and punters and broadcasters are being short-changed as a result.

There is a feeling that Channel 9 and Channel 7 both went too hard in changing summer sports back in 2018 – with tennis rights jacked up from $35 million to $60 million and Seven going all in on a cricket product Nine directors had told their shareholders was losing them $40 million a year.

The 2021 Boxing Day Test. Picture: David Caird

That said, Cricket Australia still has in its favour the fact that the Test match game remains a flourishing product and a major trump card.

Test viewership numbers on Channel 7 and Fox Sports have increased over the last four years for the game’s oldest format.

Where Channel 9 had 1.275 million viewers for the 2018 Ashes under their former deal, Channel 7 and Fox Sports have combined to grow that audience to 1.336 million on average for the most recent series.

Channel 7 may still bid to keep the Test match cricket rights even if it abandons the BBL, while Channel 9’s former chief executive Hugh Marks flagged before his departure that the network had interest in rekindling its long relationship with cricket.

“In the right circumstances, if the strategy is right, of course we would be interested in re-engaging,“ Marks said back in September, 2020.

“We always loved international cricket. We‘ve had a very close relationship through past owners and managers of this business and of course it’s something we’re always interested in because it’s got huge value going forward.”

Cricket Australia desperately needs competitive tension at the broadcast negotiating table, but are relying on the fact that even if networks go cold on the BBL, they still have avenues like Amazon to try and lift the stakes.

The truth is there is a watch on both tennis and cricket and both need to prove their worth this coming summer to retain their value in the market.

Originally published as Ash Barty’s shock retirement turns summer sports TV rights fight on its head