(Sports) Australia's Big Bash League to consider Aussie-first Christmas Day cricket match

Big Bash League (BBL) organizers are contemplating an Australian-first Christmas Day cricket match, in an effort to capture a lucrative, U.S-like audience, local media reported on Tuesday.

The idea, which is in the early stages of planning, would result in a standalone feature match to be played on Christmas Day, similar to how the NBA and NFL in the United States schedule feature matches for the holiday.

Head of the BBL in Australia, Anthony Everard, told the Australian Associated Press that the Twenty20 match could capture a huge television audience as Christmas Day celebrations wind down in the late afternoon.

He said Twenty20 was the perfect platform to trial a Christmas Day match in Australia - something that has never been done before.

"There's certainly a precedent over in the U.S. - they're very popular events," Everard said on Tuesday.

"There's no question there would be strong demand on television for a game on Christmas Day but that's not reason enough on its own for us to contemplate it - it needs to fit into the bigger picture."

Everard said any potential match would not just be a "novelty," with his team reportedly pursuing ways to factor in a Christmas charity drive to give greater meaning to the game.

"I think what the BBL does is give you an opportunity to innovate... I think it's a case of 'never say never'," Everard said.

"If we were to contemplate it I think we'd want to be pretty clear on what the objective was and that's not as a novelty or just playing another game because there's no other content on that day."

The BBL had some very preliminary thoughts on "whether or not we could align with a children's charity," he added.

The BBL has had remarkable success in its five years of operation; this season, the winning team with receive 640,000 U.S. dollars in prizemoney compared to 209,000 dollars last season.

Australian sporting leagues have traditionally been hesitant to schedule matches on important public holidays; the Australian Football League has turned down countless opportunities to capture the Good Friday market, while Christmas has never been pursued before.

For more than a century, Australia's test cricket team has played a Test match on Boxing Day, but Everard said a fresh, exciting cricket league like the BBL was the perfect platform for a Christmas showpiece - he said the league would be happy to push the boundaries and test the waters.

"There's a fair bit of thinking that needs to be done before we would contemplate that, but BBL is all about innovation and we'll keep an open mind," he said. Enditem