Cricket Australia has slated the possibility of a standalone women's Big Bash final next year after a surge in spectator numbers and television viewers in the competition's second season.
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The finals schedule for the women's game is dictated by the men's competition meaning the Sydney Sixers are likely to receive no home-ground advantage despite tracking towards a top-two finish, even after Friday's six-wicket loss to the Melbourne Renegades.
That would only change in the unlikely event that the Sixers' men secure a top-two finish and therefore a home-ground semi-final.
Under the current model, women's finals matches are played as curtain raisers to the respective men's fixtures. All three of last year's women's finals were played in a city not actually represented - the Sydney Thunder beat Perth in Adelaide and the Sixers beat Hobart at the MCG.
Both Sydney teams then played off in the grand final at the MCG where the Melbourne Stars' men hosted the Thunder thereafter.
But CA are considering a change in set up, buoyed by impressive TV numbers earlier this season for the standalone broadcast of the WBBL's opening day which garnered a night-time viewership of 432,000 as the Thunder played the Stars, peaking at 637,000. That came a week and a half before the men's competition started.
CA, not broadcaster Channel Ten, are ultimately responsible for finals scheduling and have so far chosen to utilise women's games as curtain raisers for the men to increase television exposure.
That will be the case again this season for next week's finals, although playoff venues won't be determined until the conclusion of the Stars v Sixers men's game on Saturday night, where the Sydney side need a win to shore up their place in the top four.
Big Bash head Anthony Everard said all options were still on the table in terms of possible modifications to finals scheduling of the women's game in the future.
"As we look towards next year with WBBL it may well be that we look for a standalone opportunity for WBBL finals," Everard said.
"The upside of scheduling the games together is that it certainly gives us the opportunity of a free-to-air broadcast but I guess there are some side effects, you could call them, which could potentially result in a higher placed team having to play away.
"We're certainly encouraged by the opening weekend that we scheduled at the start of the WBBL season where they were standalone fixtures. That generated a huge amount of interest, really strong TV ratings particularly the Saturday night game.
"It's only our second year [of WBBL] and we're still working with the format that we have in place. We're reasonably open minded as to what the future looks like, we're learning year on year."
A win against the Renegades on Saturday will secure the Sixers' women a top-two finish, although they could be without captain Ellyse Perry who didn't field in Friday's defeat after tweaking a hamstring.
The Sixers made 5-148 batting first at North Sydney Oval with Ashleigh Garnder (56) and Sara McGlashan (45) leading the way but the Renegades reeled in the total with eight balls to spare.
New Zealand superstar McGlashan said there were pros and cons to playing WBBL finals in parallel to the men.
"We'll be finding out pretty late in terms of those four teams and where we'll be playing and it will be determined by the men's games," McGlashan said.
"We knew that right from the start of the season, the structure of the tournament.
"It might be different if we're flying to Perth, I might have a different answer."
