ACA seeks independent legal resolution to solve BBL chaos

The Australian Cricketers' Association (ACA) has written to Cricket Australia (CA) to suggest an independent legal representative resolve a key dispute which will shape the future of the BBL.

On Tuesday afternoon, CA confirmed that they would put the Melbourne Renegades up for sale, with other franchises to follow.

According to the ACA, led by Paul Marsh, privatisation - and therefore a change to the MOU - cannot be formalised without approval from the players.

And the players are wanting to lift the overall share of revenue from 27.5 percent to 33 percent, a jump the states and CA have baulked at.

CA believes private money does not count as revenue, and believes it can push on without approval from the players.

The ACA believes this would constitute breaking a watertight pay deal.

To resolve the issue, Marsh wrote to CA boss Todd Greenberg last week to suggest an independent resolution process.

It's understood CA has informally told the ACA they are open to the idea.

The ACA believes CA is trying to take money from state players and beef up the wallets of international cricketers.

"From the ACA’s perspective, today’s announcement doesn’t change the work that’s required to be done for privatisation of the Big Bash Leagues to proceed," Marsh said in a statement to Channel 7 and SEN.

"A new MOU needs to be negotiated between ACA and CA and currently we are a long way apart on a possible new deal. Despite today's announcement, Australian cricket cannot proceed with the sale of any teams without the ACA's agreement.

"A key issue to be resolved relates to whether or not the proceeds from private investment are captured under the definition of Australian Cricket Revenue.

"On this matter the ACA wrote to ca last week to propose a process for independently determining whether or not these proceeds are captured under the MOU.

"This process will form a critical part of the next steps in this project.

"The ACA remains committed to exploring the privatisation of the Big Bash Leagues but will do so on the basis of any deal being good for the game and the players."

It's understood Marsh spoke to Pat Cummins, Travis Head, Sophie Molineux and Ellyse Perry before Tuesday's media conference.

All four are supportive of private investment, and we were asked to be there by CA, their employers.

While the 27.5% revenue share figure has been in place for years, what hasn't been as widely circulated are details around the Australian Players Performance Pool.

This allows players to make another 2.5 percent of the overall pie based on performance.

Across the last five years, it's understood the Aussie men and women have achieved roughly 75 percent of this pool.

This has increased the players earnings to 29.3 percent of the overall pie, which decreases the intended uplift to 33 percent from 5.5 percent to 3.3 percent.

Under the ACA plan, all proceeds from private investment would go to the states and governing body, provided players can receive 33 percent of the total pie ongoing.