“Three in 10 would rather spend Saturday afternoon trailing around IKEA behind their partner than watch a game of cricket” is a statement made by Daily Mirror during a report on the Worlds dullest sports. What would you rather do?
Cricket is seen as a boring sport to many, meaning that those who are employed within the profession must work hard to reverse this opinion and create a more entertaining, playable and watchable sport. Cricomatez (2014) states that T20 cricket is the shortest format of the game, with only twenty overs for both sides and it is how cricket has developed in order to create a more entertaining game for fans.
With T20 cricket comes numerous media techniques in order to enhance the overall cricket business and engage fans in the sport. Sturm (2014) states one way this is done is through the use of cameras and microphones which are embedded within the field of play. They operate in highly mobile and fluid ways, and are framed in close proximity to the action – particularly when placed on the players themselves. Grantz and Lewis (2014) demonstrate how such newer media techniques allow fans to expand their fan-ship in different and meaningful ways. The use of new media through cameras and microphones give fans behind the scene footage and an insight into what players go through when playing the game in front of thousands; both live and televised. This is a way in which The Cricket Association in Australia have utilised media techniques in order to engage fans, giving them an experience which only a limited number of other sports have to offer.
Australian cricket joining with Fox Sports is another way in which the organisation has developed the sports overall business potential. Fox sports is a worldwide company responsible for sports broadcasts on the network, and its dedicated regional and national sports cable channels (Fox Sport, 2019). It uses media in order to advertise, broadcast its shows or sporting events. Brouwers et al (2015) believes sports can become commercialised by featuring players as marketing commodities, huge broadcast rights and sponsors competing for exclusive rights to events and this is what Fox sport does for cricket in Australia, commercialising it as it gains naming and broadcasting rights over the T20 event. These rights may have been taken as many believe, including Subhani et al (2012), that T20 cricket will be the most important cricket format in times to come. Smith (2018) explains how Fox Sports have signed a six-year deal that includes expanded BBL season and a landmark agreement for women’s cricket. This deal develops business potential and engages with fans as it opens the world of cricket up to a wider ranging audience through the use of woman. Fink (2015) believes Girls and women are participating in record numbers and producing remarkable athletic accomplishments. However, female athletes and women’s sport have a long way to go in terms of obtaining equal treatment from the sport media commercial complex. With woman playing the game and having their own league it will increase the number of fans involved in the sport, creating a greater market for the teams involved, BBL league and Fox Sport to aim their products, tickets and television deals at. Adverts, merchandise and ticket sales are advertised through media apps such as Instagram and through television adverts used by Fox who have rights to hundreds of channels across the world.
Big Bash (2019) state that the league was established in 2011 and Fox Sport took over the rights of this tournament in 2018. This take over may be due to the fact T20 is a new style of cricket known for its fast pace entertainment factor. Fox and the Australian cricket association may use figures from the table below to show there is drop in participants over the years and therefore there is a target market to focus this T20 league at.
This will be in hope to get numbers back to where they once were, gaining fans through the use of new media tools for this new style of cricket. Instagram is one example of promotion for the engagement of fans as seen below in the picture. Stavros et al (2014) demonstrates how social media is a vital forum for sport organisations to better understand fan motivations and strengthen fan relationships. This will help the BBL to understand what fans want from the tournament, allowing them to make changes to a variety of components. On these social media sites there are comment sections and often links for fans to click and engage with. These can take fans to ticket sales, merchandise and even ways to get into the sport as the link shows in the picture given. Press for progress is used by the association to get fans involved, aiming at the younger generations of the country as T20 cricket modernises the game in order to fit in with modern day society and their needs.
Cricket
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Gantz, W., and Lewis, N. (2014) Fanship Differences Between Traditional and Newer Media. In: Billings, A., and Hardin, M. (eds.) Routledge handbook of Sport and New Media. Oxon: Routledge. Pp. 19-31.
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Subhani, Muhammad Imtiaz and Hasan, Syed Akif and Osman, Ms. Amber (2012): Will T20 clean sweep other formats of Cricket in future? Published in: European Journal of Scientific Research (EJSR) , Vol. 86, No. 1 (2012): pp. 98-102.
Sporting World Insight 
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