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Cricket Australia CEO Todd Greenberg has stated that the board should have done a better job explaining the reasons for privatising the Big Bash League.

This comes after tensions in Australian cricket, with New South Wales and Queensland rejecting appeals from CA to sell stakes in the respective BBL franchises to private investors. South Australia is also unconvinced on CA’s proposal, while Victoria, Tasmania and Western Australia are ready to move into the next phase of assessing what valuations could be received for the BBL clubs. 

"There's no doubt we could have, and should have, done a better job of the public narrative of why we're doing private capital and why the concept of private capital is valuable for Australian cricket. I do think it's easy to run the other argument. Because ultimately people don't like change in any form of life, cricket particularly. Change comes hard. So on reflection, we probably could have and should have done a better job of that," Greenberg told SEN on Tuesday, May 12.

In another landmark moment, five senior players rejected Australian Central Contracts due to pay disparities, and multiple other players are deliberating their BBL participation as there is no increase in monetary figures. The gap between BBL player salaries and International Player Salaries is one of the major points of debate between the board and the players.

"I've had some conversations with players about that. We'll have a really strong Australian team. We've got an amazing group of players now who literally will sacrifice lots of money in order to play for their country. But I keep saying this, and I'll keep saying it again, will the next generation have that same level of stickiness to want to play a Test match against Bangladesh in the top end, while there may be half-a-million dollars available to them for a month or more to play in a T20 franchise league? That's the open question on us in the future,” Greenberg said, as quoted by ESPNcricinfo.

Greenberg further added that he is aware of the threat of other franchise leagues - the SA20, ILT20 and the upcoming NZ20, which could clash in scheduling with the BBL, and the need for more remuneration for players, which could see them not scrap the tournament for more lucrative overseas options.

"I want to make sure that for Australian cricket, our ambition is to have a league that runs at the key part of the year for us, which is the December-January window, and it's the best T20 league in the world at that moment in time. To do that, we have to have a significant amount of money in our salary caps to attract not only the best players from overseas, but to retain and attract our own best players. Without those levels of investment, we will not retain those players in the future."