Does the A-League need a Big Bash style experiment?

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The fans roar as the fireworks explode – with music blasting a Mexican wave engulfs the stadium. Cricket Australia’s Big Bash League (BBL) has succeeded in attracting families to their sport, which is something that the A-League could look to replicate.

The A-League could learn from both the failures and successes of the Big Bash League to rejuvenate football in Australia, with a BBL style concept to attract consumers and fans to the A-League in a unique manner.

However, an approach into a BBL style experiment would have to be taken carefully as there is a fine line between creating a product that is viewed as a serious competition and creating a product that is looked down upon such as AFLX.

The BBL’s peak was on January 2, in 2016 when 80,883 fans packed into the MCG to watch a match between the Melbourne Stars and the Melbourne Renegades.

While the Big Bash has been in a supposed decline in popularity since, the league has still been able to produce some large attendances.

54,478 people attended a Melbourne Derby on January 4 earlier this year – the third highest crowd for a BBL game in the league’s history.

Meanwhile the A-League’s highest crowd before COVID-19 interrupted the 2019/20 season was 33,523 people at October’s draw between Melbourne Victory and Melbourne City.

Cricket Australia’s success with the BBL came from creating an experience geared towards families and children – with pump up music, fireworks and flamethrowers that were suited to T20 cricket with its high scoring, exciting and shorter format.

Former Liverpool star Craig Johnston has suggested an idea of what an A-League version of the BBL would look like.

“Four quarters, 15 minutes each, rotating substitutes, sin bins, all the things you’re not allowed to do in soccer,” he told The Daily Football Show in 2019.

“So effectively in midfield, you could take a touch, get past a player and you could shoot for goal. Then the goalkeeper’s either saving that shot or it’s a goal.”

“We’re utilising the same players but we’re taking out their midfield and we’re giving the players and the consumers four times more of what they want in the quarter of the time.”

Johnston believes that a Big Bash style format should be adapted by Australian football with A-League teams.

“The big idea is the Big Bash of soccer, but then the kids copy it at their training grounds,” he said.

“It is professional six-a-side with A-League teams. The A-League teams split in half, red versus blue, they play against each other.”

“The Big Bash and the One Day series is the best thing that ever happened to cricket in terms of engaging young minds and future minds.”

If the A-League was to try BBL style product it would need to make sure the best players are available – a weakness of the Big Bash has been that some of the biggest names in Australian cricket do not play regularly in the competition as the league clashes with international fixtures.

An A-League Big Bash competition would also be taken more seriously if the best players were playing regularly.

Perhaps the naming rights sponsor of the competition could provide a cash prize to the winning club, to entice clubs to field their best players.

One lesson that the A-League could learn from the Big Bash is that it has been made too long, something that even stars of the competition like Glen Maxwell have admitted.

“I think the length of the tournament when it was 10 games, I think we all really enjoyed that. I think it was the perfect amount,” Maxwell told SEN in early 2020.

“I just think 14 games is just a little bit much. It just makes for a very long tournament and probably goes for a touch too long.

“With school starting again it makes it a bit more difficult to keep the interest levels going until the end (of the season).”

The Big Bash was at its best when there was a limited number of games played predominantly in the school holidays.

If each A-League team played each other once in a new competition it could have an 11 game season plus a short finals series.

Ideally the A-League Big Bash concept would need to have as many games broadcast on free-to-air as possible – in order to easily accessible to fans.

There seems to be a lack of momentum coming into the 2020/21 A-League season, which is just under a week away. An Australian football version of the BBL could potentially be played as a lead in tournament to the A-League season, bringing attention and hype to the beginning of the competition.

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WA Government and Virgin Australia Partner to Bring Discounted Flights for Italian Football Series in Perth

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The Western Australian Government has partnered with Virgin Australia to offer discounted airfares to Perth ahead of a three-match series featuring AC Milan, Inter Milan, Juventus and Palermo, in a move that reflects how state governments are increasingly using major sporting fixtures as tools of tourism and economic strategy.

Subsidising travel costs rather than simply promoting the matches signals a shift in how state governments are approaching major sporting events. WA Tourism Minister Reece Whitby positioned the series within the state’s broader Winter of Unmissable Sport strategy, framing the partnership as a way to fill hotels, support local businesses and generate visible economic activity across a single week of programming. That logic places football alongside other major events states have used to justify public investment in visitor attraction, where the return is measured in tourism spend rather than ticket revenue alone.

A bet on Australia’s appetite for European football

Touring Italian clubs is not a routine occurrence in Australia, and Sport and Recreation Minister Rita Saffioti’s comments point to an underlying assumption behind the investment: that the existing fan base for European football in Australia is substantial enough to justify a state government underwriting travel costs to fill a stadium on the other side of the country.

Australian audiences for international football have grown considerably over the past decade, driven by streaming access, diaspora communities and the rising visibility of leagues once difficult to follow locally. State governments positioning themselves to capture economic value from that growth, rather than leaving it to broadcasters and travel operators, marks a change in how football’s commercial footprint in Australia is being treated by policymakers.

It also raises a question likely to recur as more international club fixtures are scheduled in Australian cities: whether public subsidy for travel around marquee football events delivers economic value beyond the host city, or whether the benefit is concentrated narrowly within the host state’s tourism and hospitality sectors. Virgin Australia’s involvement reflects the commercial logic on the airline side, with the partnership forming part of a broader push to connect Australians with major domestic and international destinations.

For the domestic football industry, the series is a reminder that international club football is competing for the same audience attention as the A-Leagues and grassroots competitions. Whether that competition proves complementary or extractive, in terms of where football-related spending in Australia ultimately lands, is a question state and national football bodies are likely to watch closely as similar fixtures become more frequent.

Build a home, create a culture: How do we secure the Socceroos as global competitors?

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The Socceroos kicked off their World Cup campaign with a convincing 2-0 win over Turkey. It was an important win for their tournament ambitions, but also a statement about their quality on the world stage. It is time that we built a facility to ensure this quality is nurtured, not stifled.

Otherwise, we risk falling behind.

 

One of four…

Australia’s Men’s National Team currently sits as the 23rd-ranked team in the world in the official FIFA rankings. The Matildas, meanwhile, are the 15th highest-ranked women’s team.

This year is also the sixth consecutive FIFA Men’s World Cup featuring the Socceroos, confirming their position as a regular competitor in the most prestigious tournament in world football.

So why is it, despite these undeniably positive reflections of Australia’s growth in international football, that the Socceroos are still homeless?

At the 2022 FIFA Men’s World Cup in Qatar, Australia was one of four competing teams (a list featuring Denmark, Poland and Senegal) without a national base. In 2024, former Socceroos coach Graham Arnold described the team as “homeless” ahead of the World Cup qualifiers.

But four years on from the tournament’s last edition, the situations remains the same. And the world is taking notice.

 

A letter to the PM

In April this year, FIFA reportedly wrote to Australian Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, encouraging the construction of a permanent home for football in the country.

The letter reflects concerns within the governing body that Australia, despite being so present in international football throughout the past 25 years, may fall behind the rest of the pack.

When we look at the talent in the current squad, Australia is by no means an emerging football economy. But commercial and infrastructural limitations in the landscape mean this talent is under-appreciated.

Nevertheless, it is a nation which regularly proves it can compete – and win – on the biggest stage. This we saw only a few days ago.

Which is why the players, coaches and staff representing the nation deserve a permanent facility which reflects, nurtures and inspires talent and competition. The survival of the landscape depends on it.

 

The investment question

Investment into football – from grassroots to professional levels – continues to be at the crux of national debate on how to secure football’s future in Australia.

In a conversation between Soccerscene and Melbourne-based community club, Sunbury United FC, infrastructure and facility-sharing challenges emphasised common grievances for many grassroots clubs.

The issue, therefore, is spread across the nation’s football pyramid. And prompts an uncomfortable question about future investments:

If even the Socceroos continue to share their current base, Leichhardt Oval, with various teams across rugby league and soccer, how can we ever expect clubs further down the pyramid to avoid similar fates?

The past few years, however, have fortunately seen improved investment into the women’s game in Australia – particularly embodied by the ‘Home of the Matildas’.

The result of a $101.1 million investment by the Victorian Government in collaboration with La Trobe University and the Federal Government, the facility boasts elite training features including premium FIFA-standard pitches, multiple changing rooms, a high-performance gym, a sports science lab and more.

This was a welcome and vital boost ahead of the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup which took place in Australia. Now, ever-increasing participation and pride are synonymous with women’s football, and the numbers confirm it.

In 2023, women and girls represented 190,746 participants across social, outdoor, fustal and registered football. In 2025, this increased to 231,435. It proves that, with the arrival of purposeful investment at the top, comes the spread of a football culture across the nation.

 

Aligning practical and cultural benefits

But what would a potential facility for the Socceroos actually look like? And what are the benefits?

When considering similar projects, we can look to both Japan and England as distinct examples of how a national base for football can unite practical, social and cultural benefits.

St George’s Park – England

Built in 2012, England’s base at St George’s Park is a masterclass in using facilities to establish a centre for industry cohesion and community impact.

As a centre of excellence, St George’s Park holds 14 outdoor pitches, a fustal arena, and hosts coaching and medical courses. It welcomes 28 teams across men’s, women’s, youth and para football, representing a place of unity and alignment for the entire football community.

Furthermore, the ‘Play Like the Pride’ program offers grassroots participants and school students the chance to experience the elite facilities for a day, showing how facilities can serve to connect young players to the world of their professional idols and foster real passion for the game.

JFA J-Village – Japan

The J-Village – beyond being a state-of-the-art football training centre – shows why a home for football can positively impact the community.

After being used as a support base for the nuclear power plant accident following the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake, the venue now holds a deeply important place in the memory of Fukishima. As a result, upon resuming full operations in 2019, the facility – and the football development within it – represented a sense of perseverance, reconstruction and unity.

And through hotels and public transportation links, the J-Village also welcomes tourists and business travellers, encouraging more people to step into the world of football in Japan.

One venue, therefore, can give rise to an essential part of a thriving football landscape: culture. A culture for participation, community outreach, and elite development.

 

Final thoughts

The focus of the summer will no doubt be how the Socceroos perform on the pitch. And with homes, offices, and public spaces brimming with enthusiastic support, the sense of national pride is irresistible.

But for all the positive sentiment currently taking hold of the nation, there will come a time when Australia’s World Cup run is over, at which point an all-important question must be asked:

How do we move forward?

We move forward by transforming buzz into an aligned vision, commitment to nurturing talent, and a desire to establish a real footballing culture across the nation.

The first step to building this culture? Building a home from which it can thrive.

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