CA on verge of tough financial calls amid generational changes as board confident in a bumper profit on the back of an Ashes summer.
CA bracing for ‘generational’ change amid tough financial calls.
Amidst a series of “uncomfortable” financial cuts in a year when CA revealed a AUD$11.3 million deficit, Todd Greenberg, the chief executive of Cricket Australia, has warned of the “peril” of failing to pay Australia’s best men’s players sufficiently in the upcoming years to fend off franchise suitors.
In order to discuss the 2024–2025 fiscal year results with stakeholders from across the nation, CA hosted its annual general meeting on Thursday at their Melbourne headquarters.
Despite last season’s Border-Gavaskar series, Greenberg and CA chair Mike Baird emphasised that the loss was long predicted and will be made up for in 2025–2026, when India’s men’s white-ball tour of Australia and the home Ashes are expected to make it one of the most lucrative years in CA’s history.
However, tensions were raised at the AGM, particularly by Cricket Victoria chair Ross Hepburn. This year, CA made a number of budget cuts, including a wave of internal layoffs. Additionally, CA declared that it will no longer support domestic tournaments and national teams in indoor cricket. At a recent meeting in Brisbane, cost-saving measures were discussed in relation to other aspects of the company, such as high performance routes.
Another major concern is the potential for private investment to enter the BBL. In light of their financial ambitions, Greenberg continued, they were acutely aware of the possibility of losing Australia’s top male players to full-time franchise cricket.
“It’s a big part of our decisions,” Greenberg told reporters on Thursday. “There’s no secret that every sports league in the world has one significant thing in common, they have the best players playing in those leagues. And so the moment we take for granted that our Australian players will play in our leagues or play for their teams is at our peril.
“We can’t stand still. We’ve got to keep an eye on what’s happening. Of course, we want to protect everything that’s sacrosanct about what’s been great about Australian cricket over generations, but we’ve got to have an eye to the future.
“And we’re not talking about in six months or 12 months. We’re talking about long-term generational change, and it’s incumbent on us as leaders of the sport to make sure we explore all of those things, and that will get uncomfortable for people, and it will challenge people.”