Seven Network is seeking internal documents from Cricket Australia to prove "multiple quality and standard breaches" in a bid to terminate its $450 million TV broadcast rights deal.
Seven has taken Cricket Australia to the Federal Court, seeking compensation and to terminate the last two years of its six-year contract over alleged breaches.
This includes alleged issues around the quality and standard of the men's Big Bash League when compared to the Indian Premier League, the Federal Court in Melbourne heard on Friday.
Seven's barrister David Thomas SC said the broadcaster was seeking internal Cricket Australia documents to find out whether it exercised "reasonable endeavours" to achieve a certain quality.
"We know when matches occurred, we know when there was simultaneous scheduling, we know that certain players did or did not play on particular days," he told the court.
"What we don't know and we don't have a sense of is the totality of considerations that Cricket Australia had in its mind in determining those matters.
"Those methods are clearly relevant to the question of whether reasonable endeavours occurred."
Seven will contest the quality of last season's BBL tournament, where lower-grade players were used when compared to the IPL, and argue there were disparities in salary caps between the two.
Mr Thomas alleged that documents Cricket Australia had already provided to Seven showed some scheduling decisions were an "unmitigated disaster" for the BBL.
Seven will call on expert witnesses to "compare and contrast" the quality and standard of BBL and IPL matches, he said.
Cricket Australia has denied Seven's claims.
Barrister Jeffrey Gleeson KC, for Cricket Australia, said several factors fed into scheduling decisions, including travel, availability of international players, stadiums and COVID-19 quarantine.
He argued his client shouldn't have to explain every endeavour.
"You didn't put on a broadcast spectacle that enabled us to broadcast it in an attractive way, is the nub of their complaint," Mr Gleeson said.
"Well, they know ... what it is that we didn't do that would have put on the right spectacle, or what reasonable endeavours we should have taken to achieve that."
Justice Michael O'Bryan said he didn't want the case to become a "royal commission-style inquiry" into what Cricket Australia could have done during the COVID-19 pandemic.
"The far more sensible approach is Seven puts on its evidence on loss and damage, how Seven says revenues and ultimately profits are affected," he said.
The matter was adjourned to a hearing in July 2023.
