[Cricket] This is how to deal with clubs in financial trouble

[El Presidente]

For sure. It's just that when people go on about "losing x amount per season" they often neglect to mention that a lot of that loss is actually money that's already been spent rather than the extra that Tony has to plough in every year.

Absolutely , and their solution is to spend more money using the 'speculate to accumulate ' drivel.

It didn't work for Leeds under Ridsdale, or United under LVG etc.

 

[Blue Valkyrie]

Perhaps Parachute Payments should be ditched and replaced by Durham-style Bailout + Point Deduction + Relegation.

That has a lot of merit.

 

[Lifelong Supporter]

Didn't the ECB to a certain extent create the problem by making counties tender to host Test matches.

Durham bid too much and ended up in this sorry mess.

Exactly. Greed.

 

[El Presidente]

Exactly. Greed.

Naivety? Stupidity? Giddiness? Greed?

 

[Wardy's twin]

They should have promoted whoever finished second in Div 2 instead.

Have to agree - much better approach to reward achievement rather than failure

 

[Wardy's twin]

The Albion made an operating loss of £10.4 million in 2015, which on the face of it appears to be no worse than the previous season.

If you delve into the foonotes though this is disclosed

View attachment 78419

A profit of £8.7 million arose from the sale of Ulloa and Buckley. So the loss in 2015 excluding these one off gains would have been £19.1 million (£10.4m+£8.7m).

If you look at what happened in 2015/16 we signed Hunnemeier, Skalak, Hemed, Murphy, Knockaert all for seven figure sums, with pay levels to match, and gave Lewis Dunk a substantial (and thoroughly deserved) pay rise on his new contract (rumoured to be £19,000 a week, no doubt higher still this season).

No players were sold for big gains, so if the losses are less than £19.1 million the club will have done very well IMO.

To put attendances into context, an extra 1,000 on the gate each match, at an average of £18 net to the club (based on mix of ST income, adult, kid and OAP tickets, less the 20% VAT) generates only £450,000 a year in revenue assuming 25 home games.

do we publish what income is made from food& drink sales? to me this is an area where the club should be earning a good income, looking at the service provided I know they loose a lot of potential sales.

 

[El Presidente]

do we publish what income is made from food& drink sales? to me this is an area where the club should be earning a good income, looking at the service provided I know they loose a lot of potential sales.

Catering is decent, but after deducting the costs of the goods being sold and catering wages, I can't see a huge sum remaining.

 

[Leekbrookgull]

Eh? We're monumentally crap on the pitch, but have had 5 consecutive years of profit. Very solid financially....

Been to Derbyshire many a time and poor crowds,but like you say run a tight financial ship and returning a profit season after season.

 

[Leekbrookgull]

As to Kent why should they not be promoted instead of a reprieve for Hampshire ?

 

[LlcoolJ]

From "The Spin" in the Graun:

On Monday afternoon, news broke that Durham are going to be provided with a £3.8m in bailout money by the ECB, and as a consequence will be relegated to Division Two of the County Championship, given a fixed salary cap, their ground stripped of its Test status, and be docked 48 points in the championship, four points in the T20 Blast, and two points in the Royal London Cup. Few things the ECB have done have ever provoked such a unanimous reaction, with players, journalists, and fans from all quarters united in unequivocal agreement that the punishment is far too harsh. The ECB have got it wrong. Again.

Durham have been mismanaged, but they have only been pursuing the targets set them by the ECB themselves, who stipulated that they needed to build a Test-class venue to become a first class county, then forced them into a punitively expensive bidding process to try and secure those very same international games, and rewarded them with a Test match against Sri Lanka which started on a Friday in May. Other counties, most notably Yorkshire, Glamorgan, and Warwickshire have been in similar difficulties, but have secured help from private investors or local councils. Durham have been strung up as an example to others.