Warwickshire's accounts for the year to 30 September 2020 are available  here These are the first county cricket club accounts I've seen which cover the period of the coronavirus pandemic.  I've covered previous Warwickshire accounts, 2019   2018   2017 This post continues the analysis and considers whether there's a future for the counties in general and Warwickshire in particular.  As it's quite a long post I'm starting off with a summary. Summary Given the  pandemic, Warwickshire's 2020's results weren't too bad.  The board is confident the club can navigate 2021 and as I believe Warwickshire is one of the weaker counties financially I'm increasingly optimistic most counties will get to 2022, perhaps a little battered, but basically intact.  But if the virus results in reduced crowds for 2022 (and beyond?) continued financial hardship will take a toll.  Problems may be particularly marked for test match staging counties who have budgeted o...

This is a post on the ECB's financial statements for the year to 31 January 2020.  Previous posts on the ECB's accounts are   2017    2018 2019   The Mystery of the W orld Cup Payments  The 2020 accounts show a profit for the period of £6.9m.  This is disappointing, for a year that included an England World cup and an ashes series.  You'd expect a substantial surplus to fund other, less profitable, years.  But the strategic report for 2020 provides a (partial) explanation for the lack luster performance. " The group's administrative expenditure at £164m was an increase of £22m as compared to the prior year at £142m, the increase was largely due to the £1m paid to each of the Counties in respect of CWC 19. " That's a pretty good reason isn't it?  The ECB has distributed a share of its revenues from the cricket world cup to the first class counties, explaining the low profit for the period.  It's such a good reason the ECB have used ...