Cricket Australia’s mooted BBL sell-off pits big risk against megabucks reward

Sam Konstas of Sydney Thunder. A report has suggested Cricket Australia sells off stakes in BBL teams to private investors in a move that could raise many millions of dollars. Photograph: Steven Markham/AAP

The timing could not have been better for Todd Greenberg, the new chief executive of Cricket Australia. The month before he settled into his Jolimont office in March this year, his associates at the England and Wales Cricket Board did him an extraordinary favour. Their process to sell minority stakes in teams playing in The Hundred, the short-form franchise cricket competition similar to the Big Bash League, raised £520m ($1.06bn).

Greenberg – the respected former NRL and Australian Cricketers’ Association CEO – followed Nick Hockley in the role. But while the position as one of the figureheads of Australian sport came with prestige and power, Greenberg was also restricted by the actions of his predecessor.