Australian cricket's ugly player pay dispute has thrown finding a resolution to Canberra's cricket future on the backburner.
The bitter wage war is threatening to get ugly in the wake of Australia's disappointing ICC Champions Trophy campaign with the June 30 deadline looming fast.
Cricket Australia is at loggerheads with the Australian Cricketers Association about player wages and the prospect of a new memorandum of understanding being signed before the deadline looks increasingly unlikely.
It could have huge ramifications for Canberra with Cricket Australia expected to stand firm on its decision to stay out of financial negotiations to bring a Big Bash League game to the capital.
The Sydney Thunder are in talks to bring a BBL game to Canberra but Cricket Australia's focus on the player pay deal could mean the capital is left in the lurch.
The game's governing body likely won't stump up the cash to bring supplementary content to Canberra this summer after the capital was controversially left off the international schedule.
Instead the ACT government will be forced to dig into its own pockets to keep disgruntled Canberra fans happy after they were denied a men's international match.
A decision is expected in the coming weeks and Cricket ACT officials remain hopeful a deal will be struck having remained clear about their ambitions to bring elite content to Canberra.
The ACT government has been willing to spend big to secure landmark sporting events in recent years but doing it to make up for a game they had taken away is a different kettle of fish.
Cricket Australia chief executive James Sutherland told Fairfax Media in February that BBL clubs hold the key to Canberra securing elite cricket content.
Limited content in an Ashes summer saw Canberra left off Cricket Australia's men's schedule for the 2017-18 season, despite being midway through a four-year deal with the ACT government to play internationals in the capital.
Now the game's governing body will refuse to help bring a BBL game to Canberra despite it being labelled supplementary content for missing an international.
The BBL will be expanded to 40 regular season matches this summer and, if the price is right, Manuka Oval shapes as an ideal location for the Sydney Thunder's fifth home game.
A sell-out crowd of 11,837 witnessed the BBL|04 final at Manuka Oval and Cricket ACT is keen to operate a franchise of its own with Canberra amongst a host of cities eyeing a team of their own.
But at this stage expansion discussions are hypothetical with no immediate plans to introduce new clubs to the eight-team competition.
Canberra will still get a taste of international cricket when Manuka Oval hosts two Twenty20 matches as part of the women's Ashes series in November this year.
The ground will undergo further redevelopment over the next 18 months in preparation for a historic Test against Sri Lanka in the 2018-19 summer.
Government officials have conceded construction work will be incomplete during the upcoming summer of cricket and it will likely continue into the 2018 AFL season.
