Bri
Striker
From today's DT (there's also a piece from Tim Wigmore on players considering accepting wage cuts)
TLDR; it seems the preferred option is to play the full season of the Blast (plus The Hundred) to packed houses) and yet that's the very thing that cannot be allowed to happen - because of virus transmission. In short they're stuffed!
Cricket’s 18 counties spent Wednesday sifting through their accounts to work out how they can survive the massive financial hit that looks likely because of the coronavirus crisis.
They were given five scenarios by the England & Wales Cricket Board devised to address the unprecedented situation the game is facing and had to submit their answers to the board’s chief financial officer, Scott Smith, by the end of the day.
The scenarios were:
* the highly unlikely event of the cricket season being virtually unaffected by coronavirus
* matches being behind closed doors until July 16
* no cricket at all taking place at all before July 16
* the whole season being played behind closed doors
* the entire season being cancelled
The unpalatable truth is that the last of these would be estimated to cost the counties £100million in a combination of lost ticket and food and drink income for domestic and international matches, the loss of conferences and events at grounds and lost sponsorship.
Even scenario three - of no cricket taking place before July 16 - would be reckoned to cost in the region of £70m. Such huge losses could lead to “over half” of all counties going bankrupt, according to one chief executive.
The £70m loss if there was no cricket before July 16 was based on the Test series against the West Indies, a Twenty20 and one-day international series against Australia and - most importantly for the counties - the entire T20 Blast being scrapped. Counties earn an average of in the region of £35m a year from the T20 Blast, including broadcasting money, ticket sales, corporate hospitality and food and drink sales in the ground.
The crisis for county finances that would be caused by no T20 Blast matches being played means they view maintaining a full programme of Blast matches as the priority, as Telegraph Sport first revealed on Monday. This means that under scenario three - no cricket until July 16 - the T20 Blast would be rescheduled to immediately after the Hundred competition, which is due to run from July 17 to August 15.
Were this to happen, then the T20 Blast, which comprises 14 group games each and then knockout matches, would have to be packed into late August and September. Counties expect that, in this scenario, the public hunger for live sport would lead to buoyant crowds, even if the T20 Blast was directly competing with the delayed domestic football season.
But if the T20 Blast was moved and the season did not begin until July 16, it could have dire consequences for the County Championship. Even if the Royal London One-Day Cup was scrapped and the season extended into the first week of October for the first time in history, even fitting in half the normal Championship programme could be impossible. Were this the case, it is possible that counties would play a handful of first-class fixtures but they would not count towards the official Championship, to determine the county champion or decide promotion and relegation between the divisions.
It is no coincidence that the date of July 16 is explicitly mentioned in the scenarios, as it is one day before the launch of the Hundred. Were the Hundred to be cancelled in its first season, it would have catastrophic consequences for the ECB. But it is possible that, with Euro 2020 postponed by a year and the Olympic Games seemingly likely to be postponed, the Hundred could be launched amid a time of huge appetite for sport among the general public.
While the County Championship season is not due to start until April 12, there is agreement among counties of the need to act quickly to suspend the start of the season, a decision now likely to be taken by the ECB board on Friday.
Amid all the uncertainty, counties have been heartened by the announcement of government support for businesses to deal with the crisis. While welcoming the news, counties are adamant that they will need the ECB to dip into their £50m strategic investment fund to protect the future of the game. One suggestion is that the ECB could give, for example, each county an initial £1m each to help deal with cash shortages in the early months of the season and then more cash as and when it is required.
County chiefs say they are pleased by the ECB’s initial response to coronavirus and suggestions they will provide the counties with the support necessary to keep the 18 first-class counties viable.
TLDR; it seems the preferred option is to play the full season of the Blast (plus The Hundred) to packed houses) and yet that's the very thing that cannot be allowed to happen - because of virus transmission. In short they're stuffed!
Cricket’s 18 counties spent Wednesday sifting through their accounts to work out how they can survive the massive financial hit that looks likely because of the coronavirus crisis.
They were given five scenarios by the England & Wales Cricket Board devised to address the unprecedented situation the game is facing and had to submit their answers to the board’s chief financial officer, Scott Smith, by the end of the day.
The scenarios were:
* the highly unlikely event of the cricket season being virtually unaffected by coronavirus
* matches being behind closed doors until July 16
* no cricket at all taking place at all before July 16
* the whole season being played behind closed doors
* the entire season being cancelled
The unpalatable truth is that the last of these would be estimated to cost the counties £100million in a combination of lost ticket and food and drink income for domestic and international matches, the loss of conferences and events at grounds and lost sponsorship.
Even scenario three - of no cricket taking place before July 16 - would be reckoned to cost in the region of £70m. Such huge losses could lead to “over half” of all counties going bankrupt, according to one chief executive.
The £70m loss if there was no cricket before July 16 was based on the Test series against the West Indies, a Twenty20 and one-day international series against Australia and - most importantly for the counties - the entire T20 Blast being scrapped. Counties earn an average of in the region of £35m a year from the T20 Blast, including broadcasting money, ticket sales, corporate hospitality and food and drink sales in the ground.
The crisis for county finances that would be caused by no T20 Blast matches being played means they view maintaining a full programme of Blast matches as the priority, as Telegraph Sport first revealed on Monday. This means that under scenario three - no cricket until July 16 - the T20 Blast would be rescheduled to immediately after the Hundred competition, which is due to run from July 17 to August 15.
Were this to happen, then the T20 Blast, which comprises 14 group games each and then knockout matches, would have to be packed into late August and September. Counties expect that, in this scenario, the public hunger for live sport would lead to buoyant crowds, even if the T20 Blast was directly competing with the delayed domestic football season.
But if the T20 Blast was moved and the season did not begin until July 16, it could have dire consequences for the County Championship. Even if the Royal London One-Day Cup was scrapped and the season extended into the first week of October for the first time in history, even fitting in half the normal Championship programme could be impossible. Were this the case, it is possible that counties would play a handful of first-class fixtures but they would not count towards the official Championship, to determine the county champion or decide promotion and relegation between the divisions.
It is no coincidence that the date of July 16 is explicitly mentioned in the scenarios, as it is one day before the launch of the Hundred. Were the Hundred to be cancelled in its first season, it would have catastrophic consequences for the ECB. But it is possible that, with Euro 2020 postponed by a year and the Olympic Games seemingly likely to be postponed, the Hundred could be launched amid a time of huge appetite for sport among the general public.
While the County Championship season is not due to start until April 12, there is agreement among counties of the need to act quickly to suspend the start of the season, a decision now likely to be taken by the ECB board on Friday.
Amid all the uncertainty, counties have been heartened by the announcement of government support for businesses to deal with the crisis. While welcoming the news, counties are adamant that they will need the ECB to dip into their £50m strategic investment fund to protect the future of the game. One suggestion is that the ECB could give, for example, each county an initial £1m each to help deal with cash shortages in the early months of the season and then more cash as and when it is required.
County chiefs say they are pleased by the ECB’s initial response to coronavirus and suggestions they will provide the counties with the support necessary to keep the 18 first-class counties viable.
