Melbourne Stars and Melbourne Renegades will merge under a new name this season after Cricket Victoria's (CV) board confirmed they would sell their second Big Bash franchise license in full to a private investor as soon as Cricket Australia (CA) invite privatisation into the competition.
Renegades are set to play under a caretaker administration in 2026-27 if prospective private owners can't take over ahead of the proposed W/BBL privatisation model coming into existence in 2027-28.
SEN first reported that staff of both clubs were informed at CV's headquarters on Tuesday that the administrations of Stars and Renegades would merge into one entity across the WBBL and BBL ahead of the 2026-27 season. ESPNcricinfo understands players were later told via individual phone calls but with them spread across the world the news spread to the media ahead of some players being informed.
Stars' name and colours will cease to exist, with a new nickname and colours to be worn by the team who will also remain at the MCG. The nickname is yet to be determined by the CV board but the plan is to have a team united by Victoria's navy blue state colours for next season.
The merged team will be run by current Renegades general manager James Rosengarten but the current Stars WBBL and BBL contracted players will remain with that team for the 2026-27 season.
If a full sale is not completed in time for the 2026-27 season, Renegades will play under their existing name and colours with their current playing list but run by a caretaker administration that will be led by current Stars general manager Max Abbott.
Renegades are currently coached by Cameron White but they do not have a women's coach for next season after Simon Helmot departed to join Gulf Giants in the ILT20. The coaching structures of both the merged team and the second franchise are still to be worked through.
However, there is a chance that the caretaker administration is not needed by the start of the WBBL season in five months time if CV is able to sell the franchise. CA is expected to approve the next phase of a hybrid BBL privatisation model at a state chairs meeting in mid-June. It's understood the entire process could take as little as two months to be completed and the new owners could be in control ahead of the next season provided CA approve it.
CV selling the entire Renegades franchise would follow the model of English county Yorkshire when they sold their Hundred franchise to IPL conglomerate Sun Group. Yorkshire no longer has anything to do with Sunrisers Leeds with the only connection being that they play at Headingley.
Once the market is tested, and CA approve the sale, a bidding process will be set up for the current Renegades franchise license and the winning bidder will own the club outright and take complete control of it. The new owners would be able to take control of all the operations and could rename the club in the way that Sun Group renamed Northern Superchargers to Sunrisers Leeds.