Millions lost as sold-out Perth Stadium falls silent with Australia’s two-day defeat of England

Just weeks after forecasting a record year ahead, Cricket Australia is facing a multimillion-dollar drain from the rapid-fire two-day Ashes opener.

A combination of Travis Head’s all-time Ashes knock and Bazball’s cavalier, reckless approach to batting led to the first game of the blockbuster series in Perth ending late on day two.

CA is headed for an estimated loss of more than $3 million from ticket revenue for days three and four.

A record 101,514 attended the Test — 51,531 on Friday, then 49,983 on Saturday — to surpass the record set of 96,463 in Perth last year when India won in four days.

Day three was also almost sold out.

“Just being here it’s a bit sad, it’s completely empty, a bit eerie after what we saw unfold yesterday — we’re all shell-shocked,” Mel McLaughlin said as she sat in the middle of Perth Stadium for Channel 7’s review show on Sunday.

The Test was a ratings winner, with the final session on day two reaching 2.97 million Australians (national audience 1.59m) and 7plus recording its biggest ever cricket audience of 245,000 viewers. TV audiences up a whopping 42 session two’s total TV audience of 1.05 million up a whopping 42 per cent from the corresponding session in last year’s first Test against India.

The second session on day two recorded a total TV audience of 1.05m, up 42 per cent on last year’s equivalent session against India, and the third session reached 2.67m, with the total TV audience of 1.18m up 18 per cent on last year.

Speaking before play on Saturday, when Australia’s first innings hadn’t even finished, CA chief executive Todd Greenberg half-joked he was worried about the Test not making it to day three.

“It’s difficult for a number of different groups,” Greenberg told SEN when discussing the financial impact of a match finishing early.

“Our broadcasters first of all.

“Certainly us, on ticket sales and our partners and sponsors.

“There’s a big economic impact on this series.”

Having been asked about day four, Greenberg laughed: “I’m actually worried about getting to day three before I get to day four so I don’t want to get too far ahead of myself.”

At the annual general meeting last month, CA announced a loss of $11.3 million and took strong criticism from Cricket Victoria chair Ross Hepburn for the financial performance.

The loss took in a summer that included a five-Test tour from goliath India.

“In a normal scheduling, you’d have the white-ball cricket as part of that (Test) tour, but that’s being played in this financial year,” CA chair Mike Baird said after the meeting in October.

“If they were in the same financial year, you would have seen a different position.

“We’re in a position where it’s a significant uplift, an over $20 million improvement.

“Hang on to your hats because next year we are going to have a record year in cricket.

“You’re going to see the most attendance, the most viewership, the most sponsorship.”

- with 7NEWS