The England & Wales Cricket Board (ECB) has suffered a loss of 16.1 million pounds ($22.78 million) in the past one year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Due to the postponement of The Hundred, a new franchise-based league in which the ECB has invested massively, the board’s turnover fell by 21 million pounds to 207 million pounds.
Across the sport, including the ECB and first-class counties, revenue losses were over 100 million pounds, although a worst-case scenario was avoided by successfully hosting a full programme of international cricket last summer.
“This has been a challenging year but by being able to stage international cricket and by taking decisive action early in the pandemic, we have been able to support the network and avoid a far worse financial scenario,” Scott Smith, Chief Financial Officer of the ECB, said in a statement.
“There remains considerable uncertainty over the year ahead, but we hope that delivering another full summer of cricket – and with crowds beginning to return – we are able to protect the revenue we need to invest in growing our game,” he added.
The 16.1 million pounds loss follows a profit of 6.5 million pounds in 2019.