The Australian cricket pay war, however, means none of those shoots are currently happening at a chilly North Sydney Oval, an overcast Allan Border Field, or between showers at the SCG. Nor are any of the deals that usually result in said advertising being struck, at least not within the bounds preferred by Cricket Australia (CA) and its extensive list of protected sponsors (meaning that no player can sign to other sponsors in the same space - such as Toyota precluding Audi, or KFC ruling out McDonalds).
In fact the only person to announce putting pen to paper in any way, since CA announced a downgraded alcohol partnership with Lion Nathan back in March, is Mitchell Starc. As of last week he is now on contract to an Audi dealership in western Sydney, in clear defiance of CA's concurrent deal with Toyota. Depending on how talks between CA and the Australian Cricketers Association (ACA) progress, it is almost certain that Starc will not be the last player to sign up for a similar kind of deal.
Via correspondence to players on the eve of the previous MoU's expiry on June 30, the team performance manager Pat Howard warned players against such deals. Starc's actions demonstrated that the players were not fussed by the warnings, and that CA is rapidly losing control of a commercial space it had previously managed comfortably between players, sponsors and its annual grant - in lieu of the players' intellectual property (IP) - to the ACA.
In fact the only person to announce putting pen to paper in any way, since CA announced a downgraded alcohol partnership with Lion Nathan back in March, is Mitchell Starc. As of last week he is now on contract to an Audi dealership in western Sydney, in clear defiance of CA's concurrent deal with Toyota. Depending on how talks between CA and the Australian Cricketers Association (ACA) progress, it is almost certain that Starc will not be the last player to sign up for a similar kind of deal.
Via correspondence to players on the eve of the previous MoU's expiry on June 30, the team performance manager Pat Howard warned players against such deals. Starc's actions demonstrated that the players were not fussed by the warnings, and that CA is rapidly losing control of a commercial space it had previously managed comfortably between players, sponsors and its annual grant - in lieu of the players' intellectual property (IP) - to the ACA.
All the while, existing sponsors have been left wondering what is next, and how valid their contracts can be in the current climate. Commercial partners were sent correspondence by CA on June 29 - one day before the MoU expired - in which they were told that they still had IP rights access to players still contracted, and that it would also be possible to use IP for uncontracted players provided it was used to promote the game. The problem? Not one Australian player remains contracted, while only CA could use player IP to promote the game. In other words, commercial partners were left high and dry, without the ability to use any Australian player IP. Which, in short, leaves a long queue for using the likes of Ashton Agar, Travis Head and Moises Henriques: none likely to be taking the field for the first Ashes Test at the Gabba in November. "I'm sure," one industry figure said, "that's not what Optus signed up for."
Interesting times.
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