London: English cricket could lose as much as 380 million pounds if the entire season is wiped out due to the COVID-19 pandemic, ECB chief executive Tom Harrison has claimed.
The projected loss takes into account the international as well as domestic games. The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) had last week suspended county season until July, with nine rounds abandoned.
“We anticipate that with no cricket this year – as a worst-case scenario for our planning purposes – that could be as bad as £380million.
That would be the loss of 800 days of cricket across all our professional clubs and the ECB as well,” Harisson was quoted as saying by the cricketer.com. “If you take all of that revenue and put it at risk, that is the worst-case scenario for us this year. Unquestionably, for cricket it is the most significant financial challenge we’ve ever faced. “Our ability to mitigate the potential financial impact does require us to try, where it’s safe to do so and with government support, fill that hole. We are staring at a £100million-plus loss this year, whatever happens,” Harrison said.
The ECB has already created a 61 million pound rescue package for the 18 county sides and has been offering grants and loans to recreational clubs, impacted by the outbreak. “Cashflow is a very significant issue which we’ve tried to address as quickly as possible,” Harrison said. (PTI)
