Tom Harrison, the chief executive of the England and Wales Cricket Board, has heralded its £1.1bn broadcast deal with Sky and the BBC as a “game-changer” for the sport and one that, in an era of increasing player power, will mean professionals are better paid than ever before.
The ECB on Friday announced a five-year deal to run from 2020 to 2024, with Sky having beaten off competition from its subscription rival BT Sport to retain rights to all international and domestic cricket in England but with 10 matches from the ECB’s new Twenty20 competition and two men’s international Twenty20s to also be screened on the BBC.
This combined £220m-a-year deal is worth nearly three times the £75m Sky now pays for its exclusive rights, with the new free-to-air element representing a tacit admission by the ECB the subscription-only model in place since 2006 has shrunk the sport’s place both in the national conversation and in terms ofgrassroots participation.
“It’s a game-changer for cricket in this country, a groundbreaking moment for us and we’re extremely excited,” said Harrison at Lord’s on Friday. “We set out 18 months ago to get a balance of reach, revenue and exposure. The balance of those three things was the driver behind what was a very long process.”
News of this windfall for the English game came on the same day that nine months of acrimonious contract talks between Cricket Australia and the Australian Cricketers’ Association hit a new low, with more than 200 professionals now technically unemployed after their memorandum of understanding expired on 30 June.
The Australian board is looking to end 20 years of paying a fixed 20% of its overall revenue to international and domestic cricketers and switch to set, capped salaries and a share of any surplus. The union, with the backing of its elite players including the international captains Steve Smith and Meg Lanning, is refusing to budge because domestic players would be worse off.
While the central contracts for England internationals – in place for the men since 2000 – are already an agreed amount rather than calculated by a share model, news of a near three-fold increase in television money could mean wage demands increase at all levels of the game.
One agent said it will soon be time for the Professional Cricketers’ Association to show it is ready to “step up and fight” for better pay from top internationals to the bottom of the county system but it is a topic Harrison claims to be relaxed about at present. He said: “The players played a big role in getting us to this point by playing attractive cricket which means attractive content and we’re always doing what we can to remunerate them. The players have got reason to be cheerful about this deal. It’s right and proper we reflect the value they bring to the game and that they’re remunerated accordingly. But it’s also important investment stays in the game and we get to where we’re going as a game.”
The new broadcast deal sees Sky retained as the chief partner with rights to all domestic and home international cricket, both televised and in the form of online clips, with plans afoot for a dedicated channel. The BBC will also be able to show clips on digital platforms and social media, and will take over prime-time international highlights from Channel 5.
The corporation, which last showed live cricket in 1999, will share the final of the new Twenty20 competition with Sky as one of its 10 live matches, as well as showing two England men’s T20 internationals and one women’s international. It also has televised rights for “up to” eight matches in the women’s Super League, with Test Match Special remaining the radio broadcaster for all international cricket after seeing off competition from TalkSport.
By increasing TV revenue so significantly, the ECB will be able to meet its promised £1.3m a year payments to each of the 18 counties in exchange for voting through the as-yet unnamed Twenty20 tournament from 2020 onwards that will feature eight new regional teams based at the major international venues.
This tournament, which will run at the height of summer and alongside the existing T20 Blast county competition, is intended to bring cricket to a new audience. By having some matches on BBC television, the ECB hopes it can deliver on this goal and feed into its All Stars Cricket participation programme aimed at bring 50,000 children into the sport.
Sky, which still has two years to run on its deal and the rights for ICC global events such as the World Cup until 2023, has also pledged to increase its involvement, claiming it will work with the ECB to promote the sport “at all levels” by drawing on experience from its Sky Ride initiative in cycling.
BT Sport aims to expand its cricket coverage with bids for overseas rights such as the current £16m deal with Cricket Australia that will allow it to broadcast this winter’s Ashes and the Big Bash Twenty20 league.
ECB media rights distribution, 2020 to 2024
Sky Sports: Test matches – live, highlights, clips; international T20 – men live, highlights, clips; one-day internationals – men live, highlights, clips; England women’s internationals – live, highlights, clips; new T20 competition – live, highlights, clips; women’s T20 competition – live, highlights, clips; County Championship – live, highlights, clips; County T20 –live, highlights, clips; One-Day Cup – live, highlights, clips
BBC: Test matches – highlights, clips; international T20 – two men’s live, highlights, clips; ODIs – men highlights, clips; England women’s internationals – one T20 live, highlights, clips; new T20 competition – 10 live including final, clips; women’s T20 competition – eight live including final, clips; County Championship – clips; county T20 –clips; One-Day Cup –clips
BBC radio: Live coverage of all competitions, domestic and international
