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Post by Wicked Cricket on Oct 6, 2020 8:38:17 GMT
Now the two month county cricket season is over, the extent of the financial crisis facing county cricket comes out and it is not as bad as first thought. England cricket: Summer schedule 'saved us from financial oblivion', says ECB chief executive
Harrison says, "There is some pride at what has been achieved this year but there is also concern for the future. Being able to deliver on those broadcast commitments has frankly saved us from financial oblivion, and obviously not just us but the rest of the game too. It's as stark as that." What at first was a loss of £200m appears now to have halved because of the closed doors internationals and T20 games. Yet, 62 redundancies within the organisation remain. "The ECB has lost more than £100m of revenue and 800 days of live spectators in stadia," continued Harrison. "The consequences of that are now being felt by people across the game who are losing livelihoods and are going through some very, very difficult moments in their lives. Right now at the ECB we are going through the painful process of becoming a smaller organisation coming out of this summer." Yet, an undaunted ECB hope to launch The Hundred, next season. The excellent news is that the ECB has assured the 18 counties that they will receive "100% of their funding" for next season which, if true, questions the 'path of penury' that Sussex CCC appear to be taking. Rob Andrew commented a month ago that Sussex may have lost £1 million this season. Overall, much more positive news than expected. SKY once more has come to the rescue and kept county cricket alive. www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cricket/54419942
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Post by Wicked Cricket on Oct 6, 2020 8:47:39 GMT
To add a little more substance to the above story, a few weeks back George Dobell from Cricinfo wrote, "It still seems likely (a smaller) ECB will seek a headquarters away from St John's Wood." That Tom Harrison stated then, "The COVID-19 pandemic has left cricket facing its most significant challenge of the modern era. The game has already lost more than £100m, and the financial impact is likely to be £200m if there is further disruption next year, which many are expecting." Harrison continued, "When the crisis first hit, the ECB put in place a range of measures to save money in the short term including furloughing staff and significant pay reductions across the organisation, in addition to a recruitment freeze. It is now an irrefutable fact however, that the impact of this pandemic is significant and will be long-lasting. There is also deep uncertainty about the future, and it is vital we take more steps now to ensure the future financial sustainability of cricket in England and Wales." Adding, "We must reduce the cost base across the game - and that requires the ECB to lead the way by reducing its own cost base." It is clear the ECB will need to become a leaner and more agile organisation. Harrison explained, "Seven months ago, sharing a message of this nature was unthinkable. The position we had created to come together as a game and grow cricket on the back of a remarkable year in 2019 was truly game-changing. Our ambition and energy are unchanged, but how we get there now needs to look significantly different to what we originally planned for." It appears the actual truth is a combination of the BBC's and Dobell's articles. Two weeks does not change such a significant story, just the twist of it. www.espncricinfo.com/story/_/id/29890040/england-news-ecb-announce-62-job-cuts-covid-realities-hit-home
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Post by Wicked Cricket on Oct 6, 2020 9:06:04 GMT
And now SKY itself wades in to what is now becoming a 'pick an' mix' story. The SKY Sports Website write, "With Sunday's Vitality Blast final representing the official end of the cricket season, thoughts are already turning to lessons learned for 2021 and it is clear the blueprint will need to change. The governing body has revealed it spent more than £1m on Covid-19 testing alone, an unanticipated and unworkable sum as things progress, particularly given the likelihood of a longer season next year after this term was condensed by lockdown." The article goes on to say, "Chief medical officer Dr Nick Peirce, who has been at the heart of cricket's response, said, "We started off with a high-scale testing programme and we've done over 10,000 tests... It's over £100 a test, and at 10,000 tests you can see we spent quite a lot on testing this summer. That's not feasible for ourselves or any other sport in the long term." He continues, "Next year it doesn't look like we are going to be out of 'virus in the community' any time soon. But we want to get to a point where, ideally, we have no testing and if we do have testing, it's more realistic in its cost." Harrison who underlined an intention not to seek bailout money from the government, reinforced the idea the losses could continue to be absorbed at current levels. (see the BBC), "Being able to deliver our broadcast commitments has, frankly, saved us from financial oblivion. It's as stark as that. [But] we can't just keep losing hundreds of millions without an impact. We don't have a bottomless pit of resources to tap into." He continued, "The debates about how next season will look if the public health outlook has not changed significantly is not just monetary, though. There is a psychological aspect too, and a realisation that keeping teams, broadcasters and support staff holed up in grounds like this year's host venues, Emirates Old Trafford and the Ageas Bowl, is problematic when stretched out for weeks and months at a time. Several players experienced family illnesses during the international summer, while others spoke of struggling with the lack of down time. And Steve Elworthy, Head of Special Projects and a key voice in the behind-closed-doors protocols, commented, "Looking forward to 2021 there are different challenges. This was a three-month international summer and a two-month domestic summer; next season we could be staring at a five or six-month season. That's a different proposition entirely. Something we've certainly learned about is the mental health and mental well-being of people spending significant time in the bubble. Something we have to consider if we're expanding from three months to six months is that we need to mitigate as much of that impact as possible." He continued, "There's no chance of a five-Test India series [as scheduled in 2021] with everyone being locked in the whole time. We saw there was a ceiling of probably three to four weeks. After that you need time out. If we could get away with moving away from those bubble environments we really would, that's how most of us see the future going forward." It is interesting how each publication offer a different viewpoint on the same major story. My one query is why has the BBC's comment, "The ECB has assured the 18 counties that they will receive "100% of their funding" for next season..." has not appeared elsewhere given how significant and important this information is? Perhaps, the comment by Harrison: '...an intention not to seek bailout money from the government, reinforced the idea the losses could continue to be absorbed at current levels' has inspired the BBC to then spin that phrase. This needs to be confirmed elsewhere. It may not be true after all and the BBC are taking the mick. www.skysports.com/cricket/news/12123/12091042/ecb-admit-recreating-bio-secure-bubble-may-be-impossible-in-2021
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Post by coverpoint on Oct 11, 2020 18:02:58 GMT
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Post by coverpoint on Nov 18, 2020 18:58:07 GMT
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Post by burgesshill on Nov 19, 2020 9:49:10 GMT
Looks like if you have managed to keep your head above water (and cricket just about has) you don't get help. Government will be scared of the backlash is 30 or 40 lower league football clubs go under, so they get support. Still, this government often make u-turns, so a bit of vociferous lobbying might get Boris to change his mind.
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Post by burgesshill on Nov 19, 2020 14:40:18 GMT
Ah, It looks like most of this money is low interest loans that will need to be paid back at some stage.
Maybe cricket decided it would rather do without a loan.
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Post by coverpoint on Nov 19, 2020 18:46:24 GMT
Ah, It looks like most of this money is low interest loans that will need to be paid back at some stage. Maybe cricket decided it would rather do without a loan. What is being offered that was not previously available? Complete non event.
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Post by Wicked Cricket on Mar 4, 2021 11:57:08 GMT
After Warwickshire, it is now Worcestershire who have emerged from the 2020 financial year with a profit despite the Covid-19 challenging circumstances. The club’s total turnover for last year was £4.1million and showed a pre-taxation profit of £56,434. After tax and deductions, the club emerged with a profit of £21,635, a stark contrast to "the non-Covid season in 2019" when the club lost over £81,000. The club also paid off £582,096 of its debt, reducing the total to £3.7million compared to £5.6million in 2016. Cataclysmic Warnings?The bulk of last year's income came from the ECB who, largely thanks to the broadcasting of international matches, were able to pay the club £3.4million, up 22% on 2019. Worcestershire also received £586,452 in grants from the government’s furlough scheme which helped to limit the number of redundancies made by the club to ten. Additional income was generated by the club’s new retail shop (£42,313) while they also received a fee for hosting the Pakistan national team during their quarantine period. This very surprising news questions again the previous Rob Andrew "cataclysmic warnings" about Sussex CCC and losing £3m for 2020 due to the pandemic. Presumably, if Worcestershire gained close to £3.5 million from the ECB purse, so would Sussex, just as the club should have obtained a similar close to £600,000 from the Government's furlough scheme? This then places the Club's decision to double the cost of a T20 match for previous Blast Pass owners this season from £14 a game to £30, for example, in a far more querulous light. It is difficult to know whether Andrew will end up with egg on his face amidst criticism of "hysterical predictions" when Covid first struck. So, it will be very interesting to discover the Club's actual financials for 2020 when the report is published in the coming weeks. www.thecricketer.com/Topics/countycricket/worcestershire_ccc_record_profit_despite_challenging_2020.html
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Post by flashblade on Mar 4, 2021 12:27:05 GMT
"So, it will be very interesting to discover the Club's actual financials for 2020 when the report is published in the coming weeks."
Members should have received the annual accounts last week. Bottom line loss was £456,107
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Post by Wicked Cricket on Mar 4, 2021 12:31:28 GMT
I am not a Member, so didn't know. Usually the accounts are published in April. Certainly, a lot less than the £3m feared lost by Andrew due to no revenue from members, supporters, events and hospitality and commercial partners. In fact, a £456,000 deficit is a similar figure to various previous years. Yet, given that Worcestershire and Sussex are fairly similar clubs, can you tell me how the loss came about? I cannot find any information on the net. What did the Club receive from the ECB and how much money was gained from furlough?
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Post by flashblade on Mar 4, 2021 13:03:32 GMT
I am not a Member, so didn't know. Usually the accounts are published in April. Certainly, a lot less than the £3m feared and a similar loss to the previous year. Yet, given that Worcestershire and Sussex are fairly similar clubs, can you tell me how the loss came about? I cannot find any information on the net. The accounts are more difficult to decipher this year, complicated by the treatment of Covid subsidies, ECB monies received and the land development deal. The only way to see how the loss "came about" is to read the accounts line by line. I do not understand the accounting treatment of the development; I thought the club was just contributing the land, but it seems to have incurred a liability to pay the developers £1,371,766 out of its eventual share of the development profits. If any other accountants out there have more inside knowledge than me, they may be able to enlighten us!
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Post by Wicked Cricket on Mar 4, 2021 15:35:46 GMT
Thanks for that, but the accounts sound like your regular "smoke and mirrors".
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Post by coverpoint on May 3, 2021 8:15:10 GMT
The 59 British Racecourses have lost more than £350m as a result of Covid 19 which equates to more than two years' worth of prize money. Racecourses will need to prioritise getting prize money back to pre-covid levels over capital projects which maybe delayed for three or four years. I suspect the impact on county cricket is similarly devastating. I expect an announcement as to what crowds will look like after 21st June in the next two weeks.
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Post by Wicked Cricket on May 12, 2021 15:28:38 GMT
ECB announces loss of £16.1m in the past financial year as a result of the coronavirus pandemicThis could have been so much worse after the wailings and gnashings of teeth that English cricket was facing a catastrophic precipice etc.. and would collapse into oblivion. These losses are covered by the ECBs reserves which still hold £2.2m after the worst world crisis since WW2. Agreed, the reserves have fallen from a high of £70m in 2016, but part of that money has already been spent on The Hundred, not forgetting the £100m, paid to the 18 counties as support through the pandemic. Revenue only fell by £21m to £207m with the postponed launch of The Hundred cited as one reason, alongside the cost of running bio-secure cricket. Scott Smith, CEO at the ECB, commented, "This has been a challenging year, but by being able to stage international cricket and by taking decisive action early in the pandemic, we have been able to support the network and avoid a far worse financial scenario." He continued, "There remains considerable uncertainty over the year ahead, but we hope that delivering another full summer of cricket and with crowds beginning to return from next week, we are able to protect the revenue we need to invest in growing our game." The ECB reduced costs by stopping planned investments, furloughing staff and through redundancy, which has seen staff reduced to 331 from 389. www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cricket/57077561
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