Stars skipper Glenn Maxwell believes that increasing the salary cap for the Big Bash could just be the answer to the league's woes.
The competition has struggled this year to maintain the interest of both its fans and players, which many have put down to the extended length of the season.
However, it's not just a question of length that Cricket Australia need to address but rather a question of money.
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International stars such as AB de Villiers and Andre Russell didn't return for the league's eighth edition, but chose to play in the Bangladesh Premier League for the summer.
With a convenient four-week season and lucrative pay cheques, the Bangladesh league offers more bang-for-buck than Australia's Big Bash.
While Cricket Australia lengthened the season to capitalise on the franchises' popularity, the expansion didn't correlate with the existing salary cap.
To enjoy the best of both worlds, many international players have chosen to play half a season of the Big Bash before joining rival competitions.
After losing Nepalese legspinner Sandeep Lamichhane to the BPL, Melbourne Stars captain Glenn Maxwell said that increasing the salary cap could entice marquee players to stay.
“I think when you’re expanding the competition and making it 14 games (each), you’ve probably got to be expanding the salary cap a little bit more just to make sure you can get those signings in otherwise we are going to be competing,” he said.
“I think the Pakistan Super League, the Emirates league, could start to take our overseas players and the Bangladesh Premier League’s obviously got Sandeep throughout the middle of our tournament.
“We don’t want to be competing with these other T20 leagues, we want people to be choosing the Big Bash as their first priority.
“Whether that be increasing the salary cap, I’m not really sure, or just having a separate salary cap for the overseas players entirely.”
Sandeep Lamichhane is making his mark on the @BBL! Just Shane Watson for your first wicket, thank you very much. #BBL08 pic.twitter.com/OTgUjQn5hV
— cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) December 21, 2018
While CA chief Kevin Roberts has indicated the league’s $1.7 million salary cap will be reviewed, it may not satisfy broadcasters Seven and Fox Sports, who reportedly want a major cap increase to bring more marquee players to each team.
Speaking to the Big Sports Breakfast, cricket legend Mark Waugh believes that CA need to offer international players better deals to keep the Big Bash alive.
"The quality of the cricket depends on who is playing," he told the program.
"The better standard of overseas players that you’ve got, the more watchable it is. You want your marquee players.
"It's an issue in Australia because we don’t pay the big money that all the other T20 leagues around the world offer.
"Even in the smaller leagues they're getting big money, whereas in Australia we’ve got a salary cap – and it's not a big salary cap.
"Some of the players are here for a fair bit longer than in the Caribbean, Bangladesh, Pakistan and UAE (leagues).
"So, to attract the better players we’ll have to find more money and shorten the competition a little bit.
"If it's shorter, it’s more attractive to overseas players."
Cricket Australia expanded the tournament from 43 to 59 games this summer, with the final to be played on Sunday, February 17.