County Finances Update

A post providing some comparisons between the prestigious Bentley - Forbes Consulting rankings for 2017 - 2018 with the equally prestigious rankings for 2016 - 2017.

What I have done is to add up the figures for the 16 counties  surveyed for 2017 - 2018 (no Middlesex and Hampshire) and compared to the equivalent aggregates for 2016  - 2017, to provide a collective health check for all the counties.

The good news is that in aggregate the financial position of county cricket improved.  In 2017 - 2018 the 16 counties had net assets in excess of liabilities of £67m compared to £57m in 2016 - 2017.  Better still, the £10m improvement in the position came about, mostly, due to a reduction in debt, rather than the asset side of the balance sheet increasing.

The £10m improvement, is the profit for the period and can be split between an ongoing profit of roughly £4.5m and one off items of £5.5m.  The one off items are the fees for not staging test matches paid to Durham and Glamorgan by the ECB and the additional discount for early payment of debts also accruing to Glamorgan.

The improvement was fairly widespread across the counties with 12 of the 16 counties making a profit in 2017  - 2018.  

So that's OK then nothing to worry about in cricket's finances?  Well yes and no.  Although the financial position of the counties has improved, the ECB's reserves have declined from in excess of £60m to virtually zero in 2018 (the latest ECB accounts for 2019 show a modest recovery).  As I have covered in this post I'm a bit suspicious of the argument that the ECB is "bailing out" the counties when it makes payments to them.  The revenues from international cricket that accrue to the ECB come from cricket played on grounds owned and developed by the counties and from teams of players also developed by the counties (albeit centrally contracted to the ECB).  The ECB and the counties are two pockets in a pair of trousers, not independent entities.  That said there is no doubt that it is broadcasting deals for international cricket that fund the English game and in the past couple of years the money spent by English cricket has exceeded its income.

But the good news is that there is a lot more money coming into English cricket over the next six years.  This year sees the World Cup staged in England, followed by an Ashes series and in 2020 a new, lucrative, media rights deal starts.  The additional ECB payments made to date and the promise of an annual £1.3m  payment to each county for the new Hundred competition suggests English cricket will move away from the position where certain counties (generally those who developed their grounds to stage test cricket) are deep in debt they can't shift, whilst the ECB carries reserves.

However, the improved financial balance in the game has come at quite a cost.  

The ECB is beginning to share collective revenues between the centre and the counties but that sharing out has been neither transparent nor fair.  

Similarly the price of additional funding for the counties has been the ECB taking complete control of the domestic game.  This means that from 2020 two short form competitions will be played each year with first class cricket pushed to the margins of the season and the 50 over game completely downgraded.  I presume this comes in part from a belief at the ECB that the value of broadcasting rights for international cricket, both test and 50 over, will not extend beyond 2025 and a new revenue stream from the Hundred is required.  Other possible factors are bureaucratic bloat and the self  - aggrandizement of certain officials at the ECB. 

Whatever the reasons, the result is a financial gamble on The Hundred which inevitably will undermine longer formats of the game. And an aesthetic disaster.