ECB considers new profit rules in light of Sussex financial woes

Sussex’s financial woes have prompted the ECB to consider introducing football-style profit and sustainability rules governing counties’ spending on player salaries.

Counties are already subject to an annual cap of £3.17m (£3.52m for the two London-based counties) on salaries for their men’s squads, as well as a salary collar that provides a minimum spend. But Richard Gould, the ECB’s chief executive, said he was weighing the possibility of introducing further regulations linking salary spending to profits.

“There are some lessons that come out of it,” Gould said at Lord’s on Tuesday when asked about Sussex’s situation. “We are currently having in-game discussions about profit and sustainability rules.

“We already have a salary cap and a salary collar, but we need to make sure that clubs are spending the right amounts of cricket in relation to the revenue that is actually coming in. We think that those profit and sustainability rules will be a welcome addition to ensure that clubs don’t go under.”

The regulations will be similar to those used by the Premier League when controlling football clubs’ expenditure on wages. The Premier League will replace existing profit and sustainability rules with a regulation called ‘team cost ratio’ from next season, which will limit clubs’ on-field spending.

“We’re just working through that right now,” Gould said when asked for further details. “We might set clubs the target to ensure they make a small amount of profit per year over a period of two to three years, combined with maximum amounts of money they can spend, which is already in the game. But something like that we think would be a good addition.”

The sale of stakes in the eight hundred franchises last year has brought significant funds into county cricket over the past 12 months, although the ECB has told clubs that the money must be spent in a sustainable manner. Rob Andrew, the managing director of the professional game, said on Tuesday that counties had already paid off £60m of debt in the past six months.

“We are making progress,” said Andrew, who previously served as Sussex’s chief executive. “There’s still debt in the game, but it’s serviceable debt and it’s generally against assets – hotels or real estate. The debt levels are definitely under control now, which is really positive, and there’s a lot of capital for investment.”

Gould added: “The game has never been as well capitalized as it is today. All our professional clubs have got money in the bank per se…We are in a very stable position, but we are going to use that stable position to ensure that we do not decline over the next 10 to 20 years. “We’re really setting this up for the long haul.”