The KFC BBL|14 season fired up on Sunday night, with record attendance and viewership for Perth Scorchers’ victory over the Melbourne Stars at Optus Stadium.
Scorchers smash Big Bash Attendance Record
A crowd of 30,469 at The Furnace was the highest ever for a BBL opening match, surpassing the 27,676 at Adelaide Oval to begin BBL|04.
It was also just the fourth pre-Christmas match in BBL history to attract over 30,000 fans.
The strong attendance was supported by a combined interim average audience of one million viewers across Seven, 7plus and Foxtel and Kayo Sports.
Perth Scorchers Interim General Manager – Jess Keily said it’s a testament to the passion of the Scorchers supporter base:
“The opening match of Big Bash is always hard to draw big numbers, in the thick of Christmas celebrations and work, but as always, the Scorchers Members and fans showed why we are so successful.
“To have a sea of orange up in the stands helps to make it incredibly hard for opposition teams and it’s why our players love playing at home.”
It comes after the Scorchers’ Weber WBBL|10 side attracted 10,310 attendees across the four home games at the WACA Ground. Including the additional ‘home’ game at the MCG, there were 14,075 attendees at Scorchers matches – the most of any Club.
The attendance of 3,701 at the final game against Hobart Hurricanes was the highest ever standalone WBBL home and away crowd for the Club. Average crowds for the Scorchers were up +18% year-on-year.
The Scorchers men will now prepare for consecutive away matches against Hobart Hurricanes (Saturday 21 December) and Melbourne Renegades (Monday 23 December), before returning to Optus Stadium against Brisbane Heat in the Club’s annual Boxing Day Bash, featuring innings break karaoke and fireworks show under lights.
The Scorchers’ annual Aboriginal Match takes place on Friday 3 January, where Members and fans will be immersed in culture through a live welcome to country, didgeridoo and dance performance and dazzling innings break lightshow.
The Department of Fire and Emergency Services returns as match-day sponsor for the Bushfire Awareness match on Tuesday 7 January, before the home and away season culminates in the Scorchers’ Pride Match on Saturday 18 January, when Optus Stadium turns rainbow to celebrate the LGBTQIA+ community.
See the Scorchers in action at The Furnace by purchasing tickets or a membership.