Cricket losses to potentially reach £200m as ECB removes 62 roles

Tom Harrison, ECB’s CEO, has issued a statement that due to the ongoing effects of the global health pandemic, cricket’s governing body has proposed a 20 per cent reduction in its workforce budget, resulting in the removal of 62 roles from its structure.

The decision has been made following the growing financial challenges that cricket is facing during the COVID-19 crisis, with cases beginning to rise again in the UK. Harrison highlighted that cricket has already lost more than £100m since the pandemic, with the cost set to increase to £200m if further disruption is caused next year. 

Out of the 62 roles removed, the majority are made up of filled positions with a small number vacant jobs also being cut.

Harrison, via his statement, commented: “I am very proud of the work that has been done by my colleagues across the business and the sacrifices made at a time when we asked them to work harder than ever before, while managing their own personal experiences of COVID. 

“It is now an irrefutable fact however, that the impact of this pandemic is significant and will be long-lasting. There is also deep uncertainty about the future, and it is vital we take more steps now to ensure the future financial sustainability of cricket in England and Wales.

“The entire cricket network has pulled together to get us through this challenge so far and overcoming it will mean continuing to work in partnership and continuing to make tough decisions as we have done this year. We must reduce the cost base across the game – and that requires the ECB to lead the way by reducing its own cost base.”

In addition to the redundancies, further cost savings measures will be implemented to ensure that ECB remains financially stable. One such measure includes changing a number of current posts into flexible working roles.

Harrison continued: “Seven months ago, sharing a message of this nature was unthinkable. The position we had created to come together as a game and grow cricket on the back of a remarkable year in 2019 was truly game-changing. 

“Our ambition and energy are unchanged, but how we get there now needs to look significantly different to what we originally planned for.”

Despite these challenging times, the CEO did celebrate the achievements made by cricket clubs, players, the government and all relevant partners in getting the sport back up and running this summer, at all levels of the game. 

Moreover, the governing body has revealed that it will be supporting its colleagues which will be affected by the proposals in an attempt to ‘safeguard the future of our sport.’

Previous articleEintracht Frankfurt names DPD as sleeve sponsor
Next articleLazio and StormGain announce
long-term partnership