Cricket Australia's hopes of privatising the BBL by selling stakes in each franchise are on hold for the moment after NSW and Queensland objected the proposal.
While WA, Tasmania and Victoria are enthusiastic about the idea of privatisation - and South Australia is mostly on-board - the same can't be said for Queensland and NSW.
Queensland Cricket, which controls the Brisbane Heat, is worried privatisation would rocket player payments to unsustainable levels, and also worries private owners wouldn't be as invested in the grassroots game.
Cricket NSW, which operates the Sydney Sixers and Sydney Thunder, prefers a situation where it could secure extra funds through increased wagering partnerships and other alternative revenue streams rather than privatisation.
CA chief executive Todd Greenberg said he would have gone ahead with testing the market if five of the six states had supported the privatisation proposal.
But with NSW and Queensland opposing the idea, Greenberg will now explore South Australia's preferred model, where some states bring in private capital now, and others join later.
"Option A for us has always been ... that we do it at the same time to extract the maximum value in the market," Greenberg said on Thursday.
"But clearly we're not at that point, so we now have to reassess what comes next.
"We've just moved to trying to analyse what a different model might look like, and is there a model where some states are taking private capital and some states aren't?
"We would have to get some deep analysis to understand the impacts on Australian cricket.
"Because to do this, it needs to benefit the entire sport, and we have to look at that lens in the decisions that we make."
Greenberg said some states are "absolutely interested" in IPL franchises buying stakes in BBL clubs, while others aren't.
But he flatly rejected NSW's ulterior funding model to privatisation.
"Our view is that's not a step the sport would accept, to back itself on wagering, is not a way to fund the game, and it's been very clear from the CA board," Greenberg said.
He said private investment is inevitable if Australian cricket wants to compete with the rest of the world.
When private investors do come, it could mean changes to the colours and branding of franchises.
"That's a decision well down the track," Greenberg said.
"There'll be some states who will have a great affinity to their brand and their colours, and there'll be some states who don't.
"And I'm sure there'll be some investors who will look at brands and colours and see that as a huge part of their investment, and others who won't."
Greenberg said it would be business as usual for the BBL campaign next season, but it remains to be seen whether some sort of privatisation model will be up and running by the 2027/28 season.
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