Cricket ‘stumped’ by Seven’s lawsuit

The Seven Network is suing Cricket Australia for breach of contract and is seeking to terminate its six-year, $450m deal with the sporting body.

Travis Head in action for Australia in the First Test against Sri Lanka in Galle on Wednesday. Picture: Getty Images

The Seven Network is suing Cricket Australia for breach of contract and is seeking to terminate its six-year, $450m deal with the sporting body, potentially setting the stage for the Kerry Stokes-controlled network to switch its focus to regaining broadcast rights to the Australian Open tennis.

Seven lodged documents in the Federal Court on Thursday, alleging CA had failed to meet its contractual obligations in the scheduling of the 2019-20 season and 2020-21 seasons, which had resulted in diminished promotional opportunities and weaker commercial returns for the media company.

Central to Seven’s legal action is the claim that high-profile players were made unavailable for a period of the Big Bash League due to the unexpected scheduling of an international one-day series in India in mid-January 2020.

This robbed the BBL – to which Seven has broadcast rights – of Australian stars including Steve Smith, Marnus Labuschagne, Alex Carey and Aaron Finch.

Seven CEO James Warburton, left, with Seven West media boss Kerry Stokes. Picture Nikki Short

“Cricket Australia was expressly notified by Seven of the damage the competitive scheduling of the 2020 India ODI Series would do to the quality and standard of the 2019-20 Men’s BBL Tournament,” Seven’s statement of claim says.

It is also claimed by Seven that CA’s decision to push back the start of the first Test between India and Australia in 2020 from early December to mid-December breached the terms of the broadcast rights agreement.

Seven will seek a court declaration that it is entitled to terminate the cricket broadcast rights agreement “on the basis of mat­erial contract breaches by CA which were not remedied, and damages arising out of past breaches,” the company said.

The media company has not specified the damages it seeks.

Seven said in a statement that recent attempts to resolve the dispute through a dispute resolution process have failed.

The media giant also sought to draw a series of negative comparisons between the Big Bash and the high-paying Indian Premier League in its claim.

As with most cricket-playing countries around the world, Cricket Australia has scheduled its national team matches to fit around the IPL so that its best players can travel to India and in many cases earn million-dollar salaries.

Cricket Australia has not shifted Test or other international games to allow its best players to play in its own BBL.

Seven is seeking to tear up its contract with CA, which is due to expire in March 2024.

Given the Federal Court action is unlikely to be heard before early next year, the upcoming 2022-23 summer of cricket won’t be affected and will still be covered by Seven.

Seven insiders say the legal action doesn’t mean the network is looking to sever its ties with the sport long-term and may still consider bidding for the cricket broadcast rights beyond 2024, but there is a growing expectation the media company’s priority is to wrest back the rights to the Australian Open from Nine.

Earlier this year, Seven chief executive James Warburton told The Australian that Seven was “in the market” to bid for the rights to the grand slam tennis tournament, with the current contract held by Nine to expire in 2024.

In response to Seven’s legal proceedings, Cricket Australia said it was “astonished Seven has brought this unwarranted action, which will be strenuously defended.” The governing body said it was “enormously proud of the efforts of the Australian Cricket family” who had worked to hold cricket matches during the past two summers “in unprecedented circumstances”.