Melbourne Stars and Renegades killed in Big Bash League’s latest privatization move | Grand Bash League

Cricket Victoria has killed off both the Melbourne Stars and Melbourne Renegades in an extraordinary reset caused by the privatization of Australian cricket.

Chief executive Nick Cummins confirmed on Wednesday that Cricket Victoria would henceforth run just one BBL team, possibly known as the Bushrangers, while the second franchise would be sold to raise money.

Both the Stars and Renegades, clubs that date back 15 years and include former players Shane Warne and Muttiah Muralitharan, will now be lost to Australian cricket.

“Our intention is to go back to the original BBL team that we had, and have a team that is for everyone in Victoria, that carries the ‘big V’, that would still be called Melbourne,” Cummins said on SEN. “It’s a city-based team, but ultimately a team that all Victorians associated with Victorian cricket can get behind,” Cummins said.

The Bushrangers competed in the state-based T20 competition which predated the formation of the BBL in 2011.

The revival of traditional Victorian branding is based on market research. “We did extensive focus groups on this in January and February about, ‘Okay, if we sold a team, would you support the other team?’ All the fans said no, they wouldn’t do that. ‘Would you support a team that was a Victorian team?’ And fans said yes, they would.”

Cummins accepted that some Stars and Renegades fans will be disappointed. “It’s been a part of their whole lives,” he said. “The Stars and the Renegades mean a lot to a lot of people and we have recognized that [are] very conscious of that.”

He hoped “the majority” would support the new Cricket Victoria team, although the name had yet to be confirmed. “‘The Bushrangers’ are in the game, and that’s something that carries a lot of emotion and heritage for a lot of fans. However, what we have to take into account is that the Bushrangers are quite gender specific and, unlike when the Bushrangers existed before, we now have both a WBBL team and a BBL team, so we take that into account.”

The other Victorian franchise will almost certainly be sold to international investors as the owners of several IPL clubs eagerly await the outcome of Cricket Australia’s privatization process.

This is likely to take months, leaving the BBL in transition in 2026-27 and Victorian franchises in limbo. One proposal is for the Renegades to continue operating on a caretaker basis before new owners take over the following year.

The news sparked concern from the players’ union, the Australian Cricketers’ Association. Chief executive Paul Marsh urged patience, saying the game “is not united on the way forward and as a result we are still some way from a solution”.

Players have raised concerns following Cricket Victoria’s announcement, with Marsh saying discussion of privatization ahead of the upcoming season was premature. “While this may or may not happen at some point in the future, we reiterate that there is a process that must take place before this can happen,” he said.

“The ACA believes this is the critical time for everyone in Australian cricket to come together to find the best model for the future of all stakeholders in our game.”

When – or even if – the sale process is complete, Cummins said there will still be a so-called ‘Melbourne derby’ between the privatized entity and the Cricket Victoria team, and it could even be bigger than previous editions. More than 68,000 fans came to the derby in January, the highest attendance of the BBL season.

“A, the derby will still exist, there will still be two teams in Melbourne,” Cummins said. “But B, we think the second team can activate parts of our community that may not have been as involved in Big Bash.”

Cricket Victoria and Cricket New South Wales faced a different proposition to other state bodies when the privatization of the BBL was proposed, as they each operated two franchises.

CNSW has chosen not to be involved in Cricket Australia’s process, alongside Queensland.