Cricket Victoria plans to sell the Melbourne Renegades BBL licence to a private investor and establish a new "Melbourne" team, while renaming the Melbourne Stars. The move, pending Cricket Australia approval for phased stake sales, aims to attract investment and strengthen Victorian cricket. Players from both current teams will remain with their respective licences for now. The new team will wear navy blue and play at the MCG, with the unsold team rebranded from Stars to foster broader support.
The new team is reportedly set to be called "Melbourne" and will wear navy blue, playing home games at the MCG. The Melbourne Renegades BBL franchise is set to be sold to a private investor, with Cricket Victoria to also rename the Melbourne Stars .
Cricket Victoria boss Nick Cummins said the move was not a merger of the teams per se, as the Renegades players would likely remain with the new franchise. The shake-up is subject to approval of Cricket Australia's plans to allow a phased sale of stakes in BBL clubs by state associations. Cricket Victoria plans to establish a new "Melbourne" BBL team as the Renegades' licence is set to be sold to a private investor.
The shake-up is subject to approval of Cricket Australia's plans to allow a phased sale of stakes in BBL clubs by state associations. In a statement, CV confirmed it would begin preparations to receive expressions of interest with an eye to selling one of its two licences.
"We have a responsibility to ensure Victorian cricket remains strong, now and for the future," CV chair Ross Hepburn said. "This process gives us an opportunity to explore new investment that could strengthen the game at every level and ensure cricket continues to thrive across the state for generations to come. " CV chief executive Nick Cummins told the ABC it was a merger of brands, but the playing rosters would not be combined into one "super team".
"There's some reporting that all the players would come together under one super team. While we'd love that to happen, that's not going to happen.
"The players currently with the Renegades would remain with that team, or that licence, and the players with the Stars would remain with us this year. "Over the next few years, you'd imagine there would be some evolution of the lists but the players will stay where they are at this point. " Cummins said the unsold Victorian team would not be called the Stars, because CV wanted to create a team that Renegades and Stars fans could both support.
The new team is reportedly set to be called Melbourne and will wear navy blue, playing home games at the MCG, while the nickname "Bushrangers" has previously been floated as a throwback to the nickname Victoria previously used in state-based men's competitions. It remains unclear whether the Stars and Renegades will compete under their current brands in the 2026–27 BBL season, though Cricket Australia CEO Todd Greenberg said in April it would be business as usual for the coming campaign.
It remains unclear whether the Stars and Renegades will compete under their current brands in 2026–27. Any sale of BBL licences would also need approval by the Australian Cricketers Association, which is understood to still be some way from happening. CA's privatisation plan for the BBL stalled in late April when Queensland and NSW torpedoed the original proposal. South Australia was interested in a hybrid proposal, while Victoria, Tasmania and Western Australia were keen on bringing in private investors.
"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 at the time. "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?
"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. "
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