Yep, bc mainstream Australia totally gave more of a sh1t about the Socceroos back when Joe Marston, Ron Lord, Reg Date etc. were playing...

The cold truth is the average Oz sports fan is more likely to have heard of Luke Brattan or Bruno Fornaroli before any of the aforementioned 'skips-only'-era Socceroos.

On the other side of the coin, it's easy for BBL franchises to be a hit (pardon the pun?) when:

>They have easy access to the world's best cricket talent - football has no hope of luring the best talent to these shores.
>Don't have to worry whatsoever about talent development - they only run a seniors side for both the men and, in recent seasons, women. Imagine if Victory and Wanderers were able to focus their efforts solely on a seniors side? The state sides and club cricket do all the heavy lifting, BBL just skims the cream off the top.
>Easy access to cricket specific facilities.
>Ability for players to play a game every 2 days, something which footballers can't do. Even playing every 72 hours has a detrimental impact on the quality of the football being played.

Those are just some thoughts I've had regarding the BBL. Not denying they've successfully exploded in popularity, they have done very well in that regard. Football needs to leverage its own positives and overcome the natural advantages that BBL has in this country.

How do they have access to the worlds best talent? The best of India, Sri Lanka, South Africa etc would never play in this tournament. A few of the West Indian guys are overweight lol.

Youre right,  aside from the facts you mention: ie. if an organisation has at its disposal an entire countrys media machine and the complete backing of the establishment, look what it can do.

BBL can afford to be soley the entertainment department of the sport of cricket. The traditional formats sort out the development pathway for players and bbl brings in new fans and cash.

And Afl also dont have to worry about a development pathway, their competition is the ultimate destination. They don't have to compete internationally. Thats why they have no other choice but to focus on their comp being exclusively entertainment for the masses.

We on the other hand have 9 pro aus clubs that remain our ONLY pathway. We are in big fucking trouble if we continue to mimic these sports.. Theres a very big fucking reason why football is the dominant sport in the world. Aus footbal advocates need to wake the fuck up and realise what that reason is.  Its pointless analysing marketing experiments masquerading as credible sports, that have zero do to with why football is the biggest sport in the world. BBL cannot explain why football is a worldwide juggernaut, its irrelevant to the football discussion.

Well where is the great funkmaster flex, forum policeman and defender of 442 against the shit posters who scare all the regulars away. Oh funk master, great hypocritical one,  who posesses a tongue of gold and the eleoquence of Shakespeare. Speak your wisdom now and banish thy scourge for us all. This city needs you.

Does a Closed franchise league centrally controlled from an ivor tower sound more like AFL or how football is run everywhere else on the planet?

We are a carbon copy of AFL.

Ignoring the obvious world class Australian talent, these following international players are the equivalent of a Big 5 League (EPL, La Liga etc) footballer who may or may not still be playing for their country. Yes, they don't have many Indians or South Africans, simply because of monetary reasons however - why would you leave India to play in Australia for less money?

Kieron Pollard
Brendon McCullum
Stuart Broad
Kumar Sangakarra
Dwayne Bravo
Kevin Pietersen
Ian Bell

A-League clubs would kill for access to those sort of stars. They've had three and a bit in the history of the A-League (Yorke, Del Piero, Fowler and Villa) and even then blokes like Del Piero and Fowler were half crocked. Those BBL stars are just from this season alone. It's quite clear that it's a lot easier for BBL to attract world class international talent than A-League sides.

All those guys are washed up, the equivalent of having del Piero here in his 40s playing futsal lol.

The cream of world cricket do not play in the bbl.

lolwut? These guys are still playing professional cricket around the world, and in Stuart Broad's case he's just come from playing Test cricket in India...

The equivalent of ex national captains in top 5-10 nation in the world of football would be massive South Melb.
Sanagakarra and Peterson are that, as far as i'm aware even though i'm not a big cricket fan.

That is what the poster above is reffering to.

Pietersen was never captain, but Sangakarra definitely was, as was McCullum. All of the above players are very good cricketers, some of them elite.

Plus Australia's best players who when not having commitments for national side are playing in it. 

I did touch on that in my original post, but I was focusing purely on the international aspect and how the football market is horrendously more competitive.

This code wars rubbish this country is obsessed with is just a reason a why we have fallen away as a major sporting country, too much energy at the top of the corp. chain and not enough effort at the grassroots in getting kids more active in sport or resources put into junior coaching or facilities 

Why is it hard for everyone to live and breath together, when there is more than enough for everyone. Talk about a carnivore effect!

Pietersen was captain. They were all elite at one point but as Southmelb said they are washed up compared to their international days. Broad is the only real current international and there are serious questions about how much longer he will be. Also no australian players who play both forms of the game play in the big bash. It's good quality cricket but absolutely nowhere near the worlds best cricket talent.  

In darwinism, there are instances where parents eat their young, ones that are not seen to be able to thrive

Courtesy of another David Attenborough documentary

It scares me that I actually fully agree with you.

Meh, a dumbed down version of sport, selling its soul for a mass commercialised 5 week school holidays mini-comp. It gets ratings but yet so does crap like X Factor and MKR. Idiots like crap. They create a products for idiots, promote it to idiots, then rejoice as the idiots give them their money.
I had some interest in the BBL when it first came out, but its just so damn boring now. And it's also canibalising it's own sport too. Test cricket and one day cricket are dying for teh sake of a hit and giggle for kids and idiots and anyone else with a super short attention span that just likes shiny, bright and or explosive things. Meh

       

Was listening to Gerard Whately on ABC Radio commentating the last test and he was saying how he had his son with him in the commentary box the previous day and then took him to the Big Bash that night. He said his son loved the Big Bash but didn't like the Test Match and was actually falling asleep in the commentary box. He then went onto say how they are trying to draw people into cricket through the BBL and whilst he appreciated BBL he fears for the other forms over the long run.

It was a fair point.

'The majority' are idiots

This is not a fallacy!

I think for the average australian, they are use to watching sports that are high scoring, and hence have short attention spans when it comes to football. If there isnt a goal every 10 mins the average punter turns off. There is no chance of that happening in bbl because people are smashing 4s and 6s ever few minutes. That is the reality we are facing here. Can sweet talk it as much as you like but at the end of the day there are many standard aussies that just want to be constantly entertained. It's no wonder our commentators go on and on and on about how good some A-league games are when it finishes 4-3 or even 3-2. You rarely here many accolades after a 1-0 or 1-1 draw.

For the neutral it's easier to watch bbl and perhaps get swept up by it all, whereas with football it takes time. Usually you have to have grown up watching/playing the sport and you have to attend a number of games before you can get hooked. It certainly requires more investment that's for sure. But once you are hooked and following a club it's easier for that person to become obsessed with the sport. The FFA and all the clubs need to work harder on converting the average fan by getting them feeling more connected with their club. Do that and you will then have more passionate fans. Starting from the player base is a good start, as most kids that play the game have a level of understanding and appreciation for the skill required and the beauty of the game. 

It was a record summer for test crowds here so it's pretty hard to say the BBL is cannibalising cricket support

What about the 80% or so of football participants that aren't engaged with an A-League team?

Precisely why my idea in another thread re. a HAL-spinoff Futsal comp not only has merit, but should be given the go-ahead; not to usurp the A-League per se but to serve as a conversion supplement to it, like how football videogames serve to convert ppl to the real thing. The BBL will in time have that effect upon the older forms of cricket, if it's not happening already.

Can't win with Eurosnobs, sadly.

I dont see fans following their teams on interstate trips. Cant be too passionate. Plastic and americanised entertainment has never worked in this country!

I give it 20 years to follow the fifty overs game.

i have heard about fans celebrating 6's from the opposition team which sounds ridiculous(i think someone mentioned it on here)

Might be hard considering the bulk of the games are played on weeknights, granted perth had some fans in melbourne the other week.

Also these games arent exactly always fan friendly, last nights game in sydney finished after 11pm..didnt stop 30,000 odd turning up though.

Good shot making is always applauded by cricket crowds, did sachin tendulker and brian lara get boos from the crowd when they would come here and score centuries?