England to lose 380 mn pounds if no cricket matches played amid COVID-19
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London, May 6: The England and Wales Cricket Board chief, Tom Harrison, believes that English cricket will have to suffer losses of up to 380 million pounds if no matches are played this summer due to the coronavirus pandemic.
In a conversation with the UK government’s Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee about the impact of coronavirus, Harrison said, “We anticipate the cost of no cricket this year could be as bad as 380 million pounds. That is the worst-case scenario for us".
“That would be the loss of 800 days of cricket across all of our professional clubs and the ECB. It is the most significant financial challenge we have ever faced,” he further added.
The Hundred, which was hoped to produce a new and more diverse audience to the sport has millions of pounds invested into it and Harrison has said it is a “profit center” for cricket that was expected to add 11 million pounds of revenue to the game in its first year. However, it has been postponed until next year.
The other events involved were a three-match Test Series against West Indies which was supposed to kick-start in June has been postponed until later in the summer. Meanwhile, England is due to play a series of T20 and ODIs against Australia in July and a Test series against Pakistan in July and August.
Harrison was still hopeful that few Test matches would take place behind-closed-doors, however, there will be a loss of around 100 million pounds. Having said that, due to serious logistical difficulties he said it would be nearly impossible while the coronavirus continues to be a global threat.
“The complexities of lockdown in those nations means there’s a huge amount of complexity to bring teams over, follow government guidelines, and get players ready. But with the following wind, hopefully, will be able to play a significant number of Test matches this summer which will help us mitigate those financial losses that we are facing at the moment.,” he added.