Money Money Money

Someone who could be looking to cash-in before retirement's POV

T20 revolution will see first £5 m player, fans come flooding back.

Lawrence Booth.

London Daily Mail.

Friday, 31 March 2017.

PTG 2091-10571.

England one-day captain Eoin Morgan believes the rise of Twenty20 will result in cricket’s first £UK5 million ($A8.2 m) player – and insists the format is crucial to the future of the English game.  Despite concerns that plans for a glitzy new league in 2020 will spell the beginning of the end for the traditions of the county game, Morgan is adamant that the tournament will reconnect cricket with its fans, especially if games are shown on free-to-air TV (PTG  2090-10587, 30 March 2017).

England’s white-ball captain flies to India on Saturday to take up a £250,000 ($A407,880) contract with Indian Premier League franchise Kings XI Punjab, and has witnessed at first hand – in India, Australia and elsewhere – the phenomenal pulling power of Twenty20.  Asked whether it was outlandish to suggest that county cricket could soon be boasting its first £1 m ($A1.63 m) player, Morgan replied: ‘No, not at all.’

Such is the ECB’s resolve to convince sceptical administrators of the new competition’s importance that Morgan spoke in front of county officials on Monday about his enthusiasm for the plans, which will see eight city-based teams pitted against each other during a 38-day window at the height of summer (PTG 2088-10575, 28 March 2017).  And he is particularly pleased about proposals to remove some of the matches from behind cricket’s satellite paywall.

"Having a lot of games on free-to-air (TV) is a huge part of it”, he said. "One of the biggest turning points in my generation has been the 2005 Ashes. To have a lot of people who weren’t necessarily into cricket talking about cricket was awesome, and to get that back it’s going to have be as big a change as taking cricket to free-to-air.  You cannot wait four years for an Ashes series or two years for a Champions Trophy or a World Cup to engage with the public. It’s got to be continuous”.

If they're prepared to take less money, than they could for exclusive rights, it all begs the question: why do you need a completely new competition instead of  re-vamping of Blast to the same effect?

ECB looking to £1.25bn TV rights bonanza.

Nick Hoult and Ben Rumsby.

London Daily Telegraph.

Wednesday, 28 March 2017.

PTG 2089-10577.

English cricket is looking to land a television deal worth up to a staggering £UK1.25 billion ($A2 bn) when it puts its rights – including for its new Twenty20 competition – up for sale in May.  The huge sum of money, on a par with that paid this month for Champions League and other European club football, will secure the future of the domestic game for a generation if the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) can hit the target it has set for its first broadcast auction in five years.

The ECB is looking to land between £230-250 million ($A 373-406 m) per year for five years from 2020 to 2024, an incredible threefold-plus uplift on the current £75 m ($A121.7 m) it currently receives annually from 'Sky Sports' for exclusive coverage of all live cricket in England.  It is understood the rights will be split into four packages in order to tempt terrestrial broadcasters to bid in a formal process that will begin in early May.

Tom Harrison, the ECB chief executive, told a meeting of the county chairmen on Monday that talks were at an advanced stage with the BBC, which is confident of becoming the ECB’s free-to-air partner for the new Twenty20 competition and has promised to give it the same level of exposure as the FA Cup (PTG 2089-10578 below).  It is also understood the BBC is about to re-enter the cricket market by agreeing a deal to show highlights from this northern summer’s Champions Trophy in England, the first time cricket in this country has been broadcast by the BBC since the 1999 World Cup.

But competition from other terrestrial broadcasters for the ECB’s new eight-team, city-based Twenty20 competition will be fierce.  ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5 all declined to comment but it is understood the latter is set to bid for any free-to-air matches in the new tournament after broadcasting Cricket Australia's recent Big Bash League series.   The network is looking to expand its sports portfolio, which already includes highlights of England’s international summer.

It is believed ITV will carefully examine any package on offer before deciding to bid but it has been warned by the ECB it will have to mount a serious financial offer.  ‘Sky' and 'BT Sport’ will also need to commit to an unprecedented outlay for a sport other than football if they are to land one or more of the other packages.

The ECB’s confidence in landing such an increase in its existing deal stems from three factors.  Firstly, there is an acknowledgement it undersold its last rights deal to ‘Sky', which wisely negotiated an extra two-year option that took them up to 2019.  Secondly the broadcast market has changed massively since 2012 with BT Sport’s buying power enabling ‘Sky' to be outbid by its new arch-rival.  

Finally, the addition of the new Twenty20 tournament gives Harrison and his executive team another product to sell.  They need to maximise its value in order to meet the staging costs of the venture and pay the counties the annual £1.3 m ($A2.1 m) each they have been promised.

The ECB could combine all its Twenty20 content into one package and the governing body has set up a committee to be led by deputy chairman Ian Lovett to decide on the allocation of major matches spanning the new television deal and the host venues for the Twenty20 competition.  

The majority of cricket rights will go to a satellite channel but Harrison has pledged that at least eight matches in the new tournament will be priced at an affordable level for a terrestrial broadcaster.  He has also confirmed whichever networks win the rights will have a say in the venues at which the competition will be staged.  The other packages on offer could consist of England’s Test cricket, one-day cricket, highlights and domestic competitions.  Harrison was appointed by the ECB two years ago mainly due to his expertise in rights marketing issues.

Meanwhile, on Tuesday, as expected, the ECB board recommended changing the constitution of the ECB to allow the go ahead of the Twenty20 tournament without the participation of the counties. The ECB’s 41 members have 28 days to vote with 31 required to pass the motion, with ECB chairman Colin Graves hailing the move.  

Graves said: "The ECB board today gave their unanimous support to trigger a formal process to change the game's Articles of Association and allow a new T20 competition.  Our members have seen the evidence for why the new T20 proposal is the right way to reach new audiences, create new fans and fuel the future of the game.  Together, we can now take a huge opportunity to not only create a deeper engagement with those who currently follow cricket but to attract a whole new audience and ensure the sustainability of our game.  This is a watershed moment for us all to make the whole game stronger”.

Talks look to put UK cricket back on free-to-air BBC.
Elizabeth Ammon and Jill Sherman.

The Times.

Tuesday, 28 March 2017.

PTG 2089-10578.

The director-general of the BBC has met English cricket chiefs to discuss the possibility of televising live matches for the first time since 1999.   Lord Hall of Birkenhead summoned senior officials from the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) for talks about buying rights to the new city-based Twenty20 tournament that is due to launch in 2020. He told them that the Corporation could boost the profile of the competition in the same way that it has the FA Cup, which it has shown since 2014.

Live domestic and England cricket has not appeared on the BBC since it lost the rights to England Test matches 19 years ago. It has not been shown on a free-to-air channel since 2006.  The new competition, which was outlined in detail to counties on Monday, will consist of 36 matches played over 38 days at eight venues (PTG 2088-10575, 28 March 2017). The ECB wants about eight matches to be shown on free-to-air television with the rest sold to a subscription channel.

BBC sources confirmed that a meeting had taken place. “The BBC is interested in airing the T20 tournament and would like to ensure that it gives cricket a proper platform as it did for the FA Cup”, one insider said. “The BBC would like to see interest in cricket take off across the country, particularly for school-age children so that the next generation take to cricket in the same way as when we fostered interest in football with the FA Cup”. Viewing figures for FA Cup matches on the BBC regularly outstrip those for Premier League games shown on pay TV broadcaster ‘Sky'.

The ECB is aware that allowing eight matches to be shown on terrestrial television may cut the amount that ‘Sky' or 'BT Sport’, another pay TV company, is prepared to bid for the main rights, but the board feels it is a sacrifice worth making to boost the projection of the new T20, which it hopes will attract a more diverse cricket audience.

A sharp decline in participation and interest in cricket in England and Wales over the past decade (PTG 1881-9426, 20 July 2016), and the success of T20 leagues across the globe, especially Cricket Australia’s Big Bash League, has prompted the ECB to make the biggest change to domestic cricket for a generation. The eight teams in the new league will be separate entities from the existing 18 counties.

The ECB will begin the bidding process for broadcast rights to all English cricket from 2020-24 this week in a meeting with all the leading broadcasters at which it will outline what is on offer. Sky’s present deal, which includes England’s home international matches across all formats of the game and ends in 2019, cost £UK280 million ($A462 m).

It is expected that there will be a huge increase in the total value of the rights, both for international and domestic cricket. The ECB hopes a bidding war between ‘Sky' and 'BT Sport’ will give it leeway to allow for a lower bid from the BBC.  The ECB intends to announce their preferred bidder in the summer. The successful bidders will be given a say in where the eight teams in the new competition are based (PTG 2081-10536, 22 March 2017).