'Burning the furniture to warm the house' - Ed Cowan warns BBL privatisation could spiral out of control

BBL Privatisation: Ed Cowan Fears "Burning the Furniture" as States Split on Sale

Cricket Australia pulled the trigger on Sept 6, opening the door for states to court private money into their BBL franchises. States can now dump up to 49% stakes, or fully offload a team. The Renegades are already hitting the market for a full sale, with fresh ownership locked in for BBL17/WBBL13 (2027-28).

Ed Cowan (Cricket NSW board member) isn't buying the urgency. On the ABC Cricket Podcast he flagged that the league is already pulling in elite talent—Ben Stokes to Adelaide, Finn Allen on a mega deal—without restructuring ownership. "We haven't lost one [player] to the SA20 yet," he said. His warning: sell your star assets too fast and you're "burning the furniture to warm the house"—easy to spiral out of control.

CA's thesis is pure positioning: private capital = global competitiveness against The Hundred and SA20. Makes sense on paper. The league stays hungry for investors and players in an increasingly brutal T20 landscape.

States are split. NSW and Queensland are resisting; Tasmania, Victoria and WA are on board. Victoria wants to move fast on the Renegades sale; Queensland's holding its franchise for now but has questions brewing.

Timeline: BBL16 and WBBL12 will be the last under the original 8-franchise model. That's the window for deals to land before the ownership shake-up.

My read? Cowan's got a point, but CA's right to think big. The smart money is on partial stakes, not fire-sale ownership. Whoever buys the Renegades gets a high-profile asset—worth watching how deep their pockets run.

Source: Crictracker