The main revenue streams?
1 TV – The England and Wales Cricket Board recently renewed their television deal with Sky. They signed a four-year contract worth around £300 million. Far smaller deals are in place with the BBC and Talksport radio.
2 Sponsors – Utilities company Npower sponsor Test cricket while Vodafone are the title sponsors of Team England. Cricket’s main area of concern is NatWest, who have spent £35m over 20 years, but were bought out by Royal Bank of Scotland eight years ago.
3 Spectators – Attendances at Tests and corporate hospitality are crucial because money filters down to grassroots level.
How long are the main deals?
The Sky deal runs until 2013. Vodafone’s contract expires after the 2009 Ashes. The NatWest deal, sponsors of the one-day series and the Pro40 competition, also ends in 2009.
How much are sponsors at risk?
Shares in RBS fell this week by 39 per cent to 90p as fears grew over a funding shortfall. Sky will be at risk of a shortfall in advertising revenue but they remain a solid bet for the ECB. Vodafone’s share price has been hit.
How much in debt is cricket?
The ECB controls reserves of £21.5 million and has increased funding at grassroots level. However, many counties operate at a loss and are dependent on the body. In 2007 the ECB distributed £31.6 million to the counties. The health of the game is dependent on the deal with Sky. But the government wants to place Test cricket on the reserve list of sports to be shown on terrestrial television.
Who is the main Sugar Daddy?
Rupert Murdoch, but perhaps the biggest single figure in cricket is Texan billionaire Sir Allen Stanford. If his $20m (£11.5m) Stanford Super Series survives its legal row with Digicel the ECB stand to gain $14m (£8.1m).
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/cricket/international/england/3161525/Financial-crisis-How-cricket-is-affected-by-the-credit-crunch-Cricket.html
AuthorTopic: How the financial crisis affects cricket? (Read 279 times)
