Adelaide Oval set to challenge MCG for hosting rights

South Australia is set to fight Victoria for the T20 World Cup final, pitting Adelaide Oval against the MCG as the best venue for the showpiece event to be held in 2028.

Melbourne has hosted every men’s cricket world cup final held in this region: the 1992 and 2015 ODI World Cups and the 2022 T20 World Cup. It also hosted women’s tournament finals in 1988 and 2020.

But SA's sporting administrators are already plotting a multi-million dollar bid for the 2028 World Cup final, according to two sources speaking on condition of anonymity about confidential discussions.

Since its redevelopment in 2013, Adelaide Oval has hosted a quarter-final at the 2015 tournament and a semi-final in 2022, but the South Australian Cricket Association, the Adelaide Oval Stadium management authority and the SA government have grown increasingly ambitious for the events it should be awarded.

The state's bid for the 2028 final is expected to point out that November is a much better proposition for Adelaide's climate relative to Melbourne, as was seen during a soggy 2022 tournament when Australia were eliminated after a washout to their MCG game against England, who went on to win the final.

Loading

In 2023, SA Premier Peter Malinauskas and the SACA mounted a challenge to Sydney's stranglehold on the News Year's Test match at the SCG, amid a Cricket Australia process to lock in long-term deals for international content during the home summer.

Adelaide Oval was ultimately handed the guarantee of a "Christmas Test" immediately before the Boxing Day Test in Melbourne for five years, but that did not quench the state's desire to bring more major events to Adelaide.

During the recent home Ashes series, Adelaide Oval returned the most profitable match out of five, helped by an excellent pitch that resulted in a day five finish.

Melbourne, by contrast, was the scene of a chaotic two-day Test that cost CA millions of dollars and resulted in the curator Matt Page getting subjected to a 21-minute media grilling on what should have been the third morning of the game.

Malinauskas recently managed to poach the annual MotoGP from Phillip Island, with plans to hold the race on the former Adelaide Formula 1 grand prix street circuit to the east of the CBD.

SA’s Labor government is currently in caretaker mode ahead of the state election to be held on March 21. SACA would not comment specifically on the bid, but association chair Will Rayner said that Adelaide Oval was a world-class venue that should always be in contention for major cricket matches. “We have the best ground and the best pitch,” he said.

Adelaide Oval’s stadium management authority recently named SACA director and former Federal Liberal government minister Jamie Briggs as its new chair, replacing Rob Kerin.

Loading

Briggs was a guest in Ahmedabad for Sunday night's T20 World Cup final at the Narendra Modi Stadium, where India won a resounding victory over New Zealand to claim back-to-back Cup wins after also lifting the trophy in the Caribbean in 2024.

The 2028 World Cup will be co-hosted with New Zealand, and new World Cup chief executive Joel Morrison has indicated that the arrangement will likely mean only five Australian venues will be used for the event.

CA is currently looking at ways to raise revenue, including the possible sale of stakes in Big Bash League clubs, but World Cup hosting rights have spun off considerable windfalls for the governing body in recent times - around $50 million for the 2015 tournament and then about $42 million in 2022.

While the MCG has traditionally been seen as the host of major events due to its sheer size, and will again be the centre of attention when it hosts the 150th anniversary Test between Australia and England in March next year, other venues are emerging as competitors for major cricket.

Click here to read article