Hurricanes ‘home’ games could be on the market again as Cricket Tas looks to make cash

Anything is on the table to drive more revenue at Cricket Tasmania, including the possibility of putting another Hurricanes home game on the market.

Big Bash League cricket match between the Hobart Hurricanes and the Sydney Sixers at Traeger Park in Alice Springs last year. Picture: AAP/DAVID MARIUZ

CRICKET Tasmania has not ruled out selling more Hurricanes games interstate as it tries to save its “dire” finances as a result of COVID-19.

The Hurricanes played their first “home” game of the last Big Bash League season in Alice Springs and while CT chief executive Dominic Baker said it was not its first option to sell more games, given the dire plight of the association that saw 20 positions axed on Tuesday, nothing was off the table.

Cricket Tasmania CEO Dominic Baker at Blundstone Arena. Picture: NIKKI DAVIS-JONES

“I’m not going to say no to anything but in the current circumstances we will be looking to consolidate back to home for the next coming 12 months and making sure we are doing the very best for our members, fans and supporters and the Tasmanian public,” Baker said.

“We are in a dire financial position.

“We had done some restructuring but it leaves us still very precariously perched.

“We have many, many really great partners who have supported us through thick and thin but they are going through their own trials and tribulations.

“We lost a major sponsor last week so we know everyone is going through some pain.

“If we have to take games outside the state to secure our financial future we will do it. I will do whatever it takes to make sure this organisation succeeds and that it survives.

“That’s my job, to make sure CT is still CT at the end of this.”

Riley Meredith bowls during the Big Bash League match between the Hobart Hurricanes and the Sydney Sixers at Traeger Park in Alice Springs. Picture: DARRIAN TRAYNOR/GETTY IMAGES

The state’s 42 contracted players’ annual $6.5 million salaries are paid by Cricket Australia but pay cuts across the nation’s elite cricketers are being forecast.

Baker said he was confident Tigers and Hurricanes players were on-board any austerity measures.

“They are more than aware of the current situation and I believe they will do what is right and what is necessary,” he said.

“That’s my personal opinion.”