{"id":616965,"date":"2026-06-02T12:30:13","date_gmt":"2026-06-02T12:30:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/616965\/"},"modified":"2026-06-02T12:30:13","modified_gmt":"2026-06-02T12:30:13","slug":"big-bash-teams-set-to-merge-as-two-new-melbourne-sides-loom-in-sell-off-stunner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/616965\/","title":{"rendered":"Big Bash teams \u2018set to merge\u2019 as two new Melbourne sides loom in sell-off stunner"},"content":{"rendered":"

Melbourne\u2019s two Big Bash League teams are set to merge, as part of Cricket Australia\u2019s major revamp of the T20 competition.<\/p>\n

SEN\u2019s Tom Morris reports<\/a> the Stars and Renegades will be combined into one team run by Cricket Victoria, with staff informed on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

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<\/p>\n

The new merged team would still be called Melbourne rather than Victoria, due to the BBL\u2019s rules, and would play at the MCG and likely wear the state colours of navy blue.<\/p>\n

Code Sports\u2019 Daniel Cherny reported<\/a> last week the Bushrangers has been considered as a new name.<\/p>\n

Cricket Victoria runs both teams, but the state is reportedly committed to selling its second licence entirely (not just a partial sale), with that team expected to be bought by investors linked to the IPL and renamed.<\/p>\n

Previous reports had suggested the Renegades would be sold and play games across the MCG, GMHBA Stadium, the Junction Oval and Chennai, India.<\/p>\n

Cherny compared the new situation<\/a> to that of the A-League\u2019s two Melbourne sides Victory (locally-owned) and City (foreign-owned).<\/p>\n

He reported on Tuesday night<\/a> the Stars and Renegades\u2019 playing lists will \u201ceffectively remain the same for the time being\u201d and the merger was primarily an administrative one.<\/p>\n

Marcus Stoinis of the Stars and Will Sutherland of the Renegades pose during a Melbourne Mace BBL Media Opportunity at Fitzroy Town Hall on December 19, 2025 in Melbourne, Australia. (Photo by Graham Denholm\/Getty Images for TGI)Source: Getty Images<\/p>\n

Cricket Australia\u2019s attempt to privatise the BBL, with investors to enter the league for the 2027-28 season, was put on hold in April<\/a> when Queensland joined New South Wales in rejecting the plan.<\/p>\n

But the organisation remains keen on a partial privatisation model, allowing states to make their own decisions, and this move by Victoria would follow that plan.<\/p>\n

\u201cNSW and Queensland are certainly not supportive of private capital. NSW have an alternative model to self-fund it. Queensland don\u2019t have an alternative model. But they don\u2019t believe private capital is something for them,\u201d CA boss Todd Greenberg said at the time.<\/p>\n

\u201cSouth Australia are in a hybrid situation where they would like the ability for some states to take the opportunity to bring private capital in, and for some states to come in later at their choice.<\/p>\n

\u201cThen three other states, Victoria, WA and Tasmania who are very strong and very supportive at the opportunity to bring private capital into their states.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo if you\u2019re sitting in my shoes, with a federated model and six members, that\u2019s why it\u2019s difficult.\u201d<\/p>\n

Privatisation would inject cash in the short-term and potentially see BBL sides linked to counterparts in other international T20 competitions, at the risk of losing control of the teams and any future profits in the long-term.<\/p>\n

The Renegades won the 2018-19 championship while the Stars famously are the only team to have never won a BBL title, finishing as runner-up three times.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Melbourne\u2019s two Big Bash League teams are set to merge, as part of Cricket Australia\u2019s major revamp of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":616966,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[1721,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-616965","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cricket","tag-cricket","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/616965","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=616965"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/616965\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/616966"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=616965"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=616965"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=616965"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}