Seven moves to terminate Cricket Australia deal over alleged Big Bash League breaches

Seven West Media has attempted to blow up its $450 million media rights deal with Cricket Australia, arguing in fresh court proceedings that the sporting body breached its contract and undermined the success of the Big Bash League.

In proceedings filed in the Federal Court, Seven claims that Cricket Australia breached its contract relating to quality and standards of the BBL, which has struggled to generate high TV ratings.

“Seven’s intention is to terminate the [media rights agreement], conditional on the Federal Court granting a declaration that Seven is entitled to do so,” a statement on the ASX, approved by the board, said.

In the statement of claim, obtained by this masthead, Seven alleges that Cricket Australia was required to use all “reasonable endeavours” to make sure BBL matches on Seven were of the highest quality and standard in the world.

Seven alleges that Cricket Australia breached its agreement by scheduling One Day International Matches and International Twenty20 Matches (both which run on Foxtel), which affected the availability of high-profile players for the BBL and hurt its chances of maximising audiences.

It also alleges that by imposing a salary cap – $1.77 million in 2018/2019, $1.82 million in 2019/2020 and $1.8 million – CA prevented the BBL from attracting players of the “highest quality and standard in the world”. By comparison, the salary cap for the Indian Premier League’s 2019 season was $16.7 million. The cap was $17 million in 2019/2020 and 2020/2021.

Seven also alleges that by revising the summer schedule it did was unable to leverage the big audiences of key Test matches to grow the BBL’s viewership. The network, controlled by billionaire Kerry Stokes is seeking the deal to be terminated and damages for past breaches.

The broadcaster said it had attempted to resolve the long-running dispute through a resolution process, but was unsuccessful. It said it will continue to perform its obligations under the agreement until it can terminate the deal.

In a statement, Cricket Australia said it was disappointed with Seven’s legal action, and defended the performance of the BBL during the COVID-19 pandemic. “CA is astonished that Seven has brought this unwarranted action which will be strenuously defended,” it said.

“CA remains enormously proud of the efforts of the Australian Cricket family including players, match officials, sponsors, stadium operators, host governments, staff and volunteers whose hard work, dedication and expertise allowed us to deliver two exceptional cricket seasons in unprecedented circumstances.”

The timing of the federal court comes ahead of another round of negotiations over cricket rights. The existing deal between CA, Foxtel and Seven expires in 2024, which means informal discussions could start by the end of this year.