Tassie denies paying for Big Bash

The Tasmanian Government has denied paying Cricket Australia to bring the Big Bash League to Hobart.

In an affidavit submitted to the Federal Court, Seven’s Head of Sport Lewis Martin said he believed CA would only have chosen to play eight of the first 12 games in Tasmania if financially incentivised.

“CA scheduling the playing of eight of the first 12 Men’s BBL Matches in Tasmania in two relatively small and unheralded stadia … would be commercially irrational,” Martin said in the affidavit.

“Unless CA were otherwise incentivised, presumably by arrangement with the Government of Tasmania, to do so.

“In the 2019-2020 Men’s BBL Tournament, only one of the first 12 Men’s BBL Matches was played in Tasmania.”

But Tasmanian Premier Gutwein said in a statement, “We are thrilled to host the 10 world-class games, which is a huge win for Tasmanians and puts our state on a global stage.

“The Tasmanian Government continues to provide funding to Cricket Tasmania to support cricket development and the hosting of Big Bash League and Women’s Big Bash League matches in the state.

“But there were no incentive payments made.”

Meanwhile The Age also quotes from a tense transcript between Martin and CA.

Martin: You easily cancelled the 3 x West Indies T20 matches, the World Cup was cancelled and the Afghan Test was cancelled, so why couldn’t the 3 T20s against India be cancelled as well? Had you postponed or cancelled the 3 x T20s and left the 3 x ODIs where they were the summer we built would largely be intact.

Beltrame: The West Indies did not have a series and it has been postponed and not cancelled. The Afghan Test has been postponed and not cancelled. We have done so much for Seven. It is a worldwide pandemic for god’s sake Lewis, nobody knows that more than you.

Source: Yahoo