Pandemic’s hit on cricket is revealed
CRICKET The England and Wales Cricket Board has reported a loss of £16.1m for the past financial year, with the impact of the coronavirus pandemic helping whittle the organisation’s cash reserves down to just £2.2m.
The ECB’s financial results for the year ending January 31 make for sobering reading given expectations that the previous annual profit of £6.5m would increase significantly.
In 2016 the ECB reported cash reserves in excess of £70m, but that figure has plummeted sharply over the past five years to its current level.
Cricket as a whole in England and Wales has accrued revenue losses of more than £100m, although that outlook is still better than the worst-case scenario had a full men’s international programme as well as one women’s series not been salvaged in a bio-secure bubble.
Scott Smith, chief financial officer at the ECB, said: “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.
“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.”
ECB revenue fell by £21m to £207m, with the postponed launch of The Hundred and the associated costs of setting up and maintaining the bio-secure international bubbles cited as factors.