Cricket faces TV rights fire sale as Seven Network threatens to walk away from $450m cricket contract

Australian cricket is in crisis and facing the prospect of a TV rights fire sale.

The Seven Network is threatening to tear up its $450m deal with Cricket Australia.

Australian cricket is in crisis and facing the prospect of a TV rights fire sale following the Seven Network’s bombshell declaration that it is considering walking away from the game.

In an exclusive interview with News Corp, Seven boss James Warburton said his network would not support the summer, while roasting Cricket Australia as a “train wreck” and labelling its administration “stumbling, bumbling” and “incompetent”.

Fox Sports, cricket’s other broadcast partner, has remained tight-lipped, but is also angry about the Big Bash League being stripped of its star power and is set to challenge the stark difference between the $120m it pays per year for rights, and what looks like being delivered this summer. If Seven terminates its contract, Cricket Australia’s options for a free-to-air partner would consist of the Nine Network, which dumped cricket for tennis two years ago, Channel 10, which is financially strapped and still furious at how it was treated at the last negotiations, and the ABC and SBS, who wouldn’t be able to stump up anywhere near the $75m Seven is paying each year.

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Another possibility is Fox Sports could end up settling on an even bigger bank of exclusive matches to increase the value of what it has already paid, and that could include Test cricket if, under anti-siphoning rules, the rights are offered to free-to-air-networks and not accepted.

Due to COVID-19 the BBL is set to lose more big-name stars than ever to international hubs, and cricket’s $1.2bn TV rights deal is now on the verge of being challenged in court.

“Eight of the top 10 all-time run-scoring batsmen who have played in the BBL will be unavailable for the competition. Nine of the top 10 all-time wicket-taking bowlers will be unavailable for the competition,” Warburton told News Corp.

“Put simply, this is not an acceptable product and we will not support the season. Cricket Australia have an obligation to deliver a competition of no lesser standard than the past.

“We paid a huge price and were promised the world. There is an obligation to deliver the best quality to the broadcasters.

“ The BBL has been under huge pressure and Cricket Australia promised a full review and a reboot — they even called it BBL 2.0 for 2020-21.

“It’s the most incompetent administration I’ve ever worked with.

“With no appointed full-time chief executive officer at a time when the sport needs strong leadership to steer through these extraordinary times, it’s a train wreck.

“We are forced to consider all our options including terminating the contract and we have put them on notice.”

Seven CEO James Warburton. Picture: Hollie Adams

Doubling down on his attack on Cricket Australia’s board and administration from earlier in the week, Warburton indicated the network felt better supported by Kevin Roberts, before he was sacked as CEO in June.

Cricket Australia believes Seven is trying to be a bully and feels the posturing is to be expected in hard-nosed negotiations.

“Cricket Australia greatly values the relationship with our broadcast partners. While disappointed by comments made in the media today, CA remains committed to delivering a full and compelling summer of cricket,” a CA spokesman said.

“We want to reassure fans here in Australia and around the world that we are well advanced in ­delivering our home summer of cricket.”

Broadcasters have seen a proposed schedule that includes a white-ball series against India that would overlap the start of the BBL in early December, a white-ball series against New Zealand that would impact towards the end of January, Australia A and CA XI matches in December that would take away another tier of players, and Test cricketers locked in their bubble until January 19.

“You can see our continued frustration with Cricket Australia,” Warburton told News Corp.

“In one breath they say ‘we will deliver the full schedule of cricket this summer’. In the next breath they admit that the BBL will not include the best Australian international players, let alone the best of the state cricketers that fire up the fans … it’s chaotic.

“What a bumbling, stumbling administration.

“How stupid to schedule international cricket against the BBL and drain the resources of a competition already under pressure.

“It’s a joke and it rips off the fans. Imagine the AFL starting a season without Dusty (Dustin Martin), Danger (Patrick Dangerfield), Nat Fyfe, Marcus Bontempelli or Toby Greene?

“Kevin Roberts recognised these challenges and had started to engage with his broadcast partners to ensure fans would see the best cricket had to offer in 2020-21. The Cricket Australia hierarchy sacked him.”