The Stars’ name and colours will be rebranded by CV•Cricket Australia/Getty Images
The new owners would control every aspect of the team, from commercial operations to list management. However, there will be complications with player contracts as some players are contracted to Renegades for the next two seasons and those will be subject to a renegotiated MoU between the Australian Cricketers’ Association (ACA) and CA that needs to be ironed out before the sales process can go ahead.
CV is understood to be open to selling the second Melbourne club to an IPL owner, with Sun Group and Reliance Industries (Mumbai Indians) understood to have expressed interest already, provided they were willing to work together with CV on the Melbourne derbies which are the biggest commercial matches for the two clubs each season. The lure of owning a BBL team that plays at the MCG is understood to be very attractive to some prospective parties.
This was always the plan CV had for their two franchises when they decided to vote for CA’s privatisation model but the plan was halted by the push back from New South Wales and Queensland who voted against CA’s initial proposal in April.
But once a hybrid model was re-worked by CA, whereby Renegades, Perth Scorchers (run by Western Australia) and Hobart Hurricanes (run by Tasmania) could sell a percentage stake in their BBL teams while the other teams either waited or opted out entirely, CV has pushed ahead with their plans.
However, surprise has come at the swiftness of their decision-making and beginning the administrative process of merging the teams before privatisation has even been confirmed. CA had not envisioned any changes to the W/BBL teams and competition until 2027-28.
But CV has long had issues servicing the two franchises equally under the one administration. Renegades’ men’s team are set to be without a permanent home ground for 2026-27 after their venue agreement with Marvel Stadium (Docklands) ran out at the end of last year. They are set to play a mixture of home games in Chennai, at the MCG, the Junction Oval and Geelong next season at this stage although the fixture is still being worked through.
CV is understood to have had concerns about planning for the upcoming season with two teams that had so much uncertainty. Having already lost some staff, retaining other key administration staff was an issue and providing clarity beyond the sales process was part of the reason for moving ahead prior to the next phase.
There was also a concern that if they were to sell Renegades prior to the season starting it would severely affect the Victorian fanbase long-term. There will be serious questions among fans, in any case, about this decision given the strong rivalry between the two clubs over the past 15 years but there is a hope that a united team in Victorian colours, albeit under a Melbourne banner, will create a groundswell of support, while there is potential that Victoria’s heavy Indian ex-pat community may well get behind an IPL-owned second Melbourne team.
If CA does not get to the final stage of selling stakes to private owners, Renegades caretaker administration would run decisions through CA, although player agreements and staff contracts still sit with CV.
CA still has a lot of work to do to get to the final stage of the sale process. They are trying to work out how they will run a competition with at least one club owned entirely by a private investor from beyond Australian cricket, and several states with private investor partners, while the remainder are run as they currently are under state administrations.
Beyond that they will need to also renegotiate the players’ pay deal, which will include restructuring salary caps for the competitions.
