Nine has eased fears the Ashes series may be compromised over a heated pay dispute between Australia's cricketers and the sport's administration body, Cricket Australia.
At Nine's Ashes launch on Tuesday (see image gallery below), cricket commentators Ian Healy, Michael Slater, Michael Clarke, Ian Chappell and Bill Lawrie expressed disappointment at the protracted nature of the dispute, but were confident it would be resolved well before the first test begins in Brisbane on the 23 November.
Today, the dispute escalated when players pulled out of an upcoming Australia A tour of South Africa, which would have give a few Ashes hopefuls crucial time in the middle ahead of the summer.
For Nine, the home Ashes series is its highest rating summer of cricket in each four-year cycle followed by the India series. It is the only series where each day of action draws an average metro audience of more than 1 million (see chart below).
Any threat to play or a weakened team could have an impact not only on cricket crowds, but interest levels in the games and TV audiences at a time when international cricket faces competition from the popular Big Bash League on Ten, which could also be impacted as 230 contracted cricketers are officially unemployed.
“There’s no doubt CA and the players are going to reach an agreement before the Ashes, and we are encouraging both sides to do so, and we’re looking forward to another fantastic series,” a Nine spokesperson told AdNews yesterday.
At the heart of the dispute is that Cricket Australia wants to scrap a revenue-sharing model that has determined players' salaries for the past 20 years. The Australian Cricketers Association wants it to remain, and players have complained that they haven't been consulted over the changes or given revenue projections that would help them make an educated decision either way.
“I'm sure it will get fixed,” Nine commentator and former Australian wicketkeeper Healy said.
“It's not a pay dispute, it's a model dispute and the players are really pissed off they haven't been shown enough respect and given sufficient detail to make a sound decisions five years moving forwards.
“[The players] are a bit suspicious saying, 'hang on, all of a sudden we're not projecting revenues and you're paying us a lot more money. What are we missing here?'. Healy reckons that once each party knocked the other back, “they haven’t talked ever since”.
Former captain Clarke, Australia's player of the series in the 2009 Ashes, is disappointed the pay dispute is taking media attention away from the Women’s World Cup and concerned it could start to affect preparations leading into the series, which generally begin months in advance.
“I hate the fact I’ve just arrived back from London and I’m reading it, it’s front page news when we’ve got the Women’s World Cup going on in England and the Aussie women are on fire,” Clarke said.
“They can’t get a run in the paper because this has taken the front pages.”
Clarke believes both parties should agree to extend the current memorandum of understanding, which sets out contract terms, for another year so that players can focus on preparing for the summer ahead.
“I want the players to be able to focus on what’s important to them and that’s performing…this is a huge summer for Australia. It is the most important series of your career and I know how important preparation is so I’d like to focus on that and it gives Cricket Australia and the ACA time to sort this out.”
Another former captain and one of the most respected cricket commentators in the world, Ian Chappell, said it is “ridiculous it has got to this stage” and offered a warning.
“It’s got to be a partnership and it has been one in the past with the MoUs but this time I get the distinct impression they’re trying to split the players’ association. I don’t understand that having come from an era when players were on their own,” he says.
Chappell points to the example of baseball where a series of player strikes culminated in the cancellation of the World Series in the mid-90s before a partnership was forged.
“It was four years where the fans just said ‘up you lot’, we’re not attending. I think that is something that both sides should take into account.”
Why the Ashes matter
Aside from strong ratings, summer is a period where there is a bump in consumer spending that coincides with Christmas and more people enjoying the great outdoors (see charts below). This provides opportunities for brands in certain sectors to promote their goods on television with cricket the number one sport on TV.
Nine's summer of cricket not only provides it with a strong foundation to attract advertisers and commercial partners, it is an important promotional platform for tent pole TV shows in the year ahead and a good series provides the newtwork with momentum leading into the ratings season.
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