Cricket Australia shrugs off $17m loss

As CA reported a net loss of $16.9m over the past financial year, a figure that could have been worse if not for a $43m profit from hosting the women’s T20 World Cup, officials remain “very confident about the future” of the game.

A new five-year MOU between CA and the players includes an increase in their share of an anticipated $634m in revenue over five years, with payments to contracted females in particular being boosted by $53m.

Part of the MOU includes a new clause that could reportedly financially dock players if they decide to play for T20 franchises across the world rather than for Australia.

But amid claims from the Australian Cricketers Association that CA’s contracting could soon be considered outdated as franchises look to nab players, Hockley was confident the agreement would ensure playing for Australia remained the players’ key objective.

“Things are changing very quickly, but I think our five-year MOU has specifically catered for those changes,” Hockley said when asked about the structure of contracts on Thursday.

“There are three main changes. The first is significantly increasing the amount we allocate to CA central contracts, and that’s to protect the primacy of international cricket.

“Secondly, we’ve increased the BBL salary caps, both for women and men. Thirdly, we continue to be the leading sport for women and girls.”

CA chairman Mike Baird said there are already changes in placed to help the sport prepare itself for the future and predicted more could be coming to achieve the fairest result for all parties.

“The fundamental thing that you need is trust and that relationship with the players. We established that with the MOU, so the framework is there,” he said.

“If we need to be agile, then we will, but we’ll do that through our partnership with the players. I think that’s the critical thing as we face this changing environment.”

It’s been a strong 12 months for the national sides, with the women retaining the Ashes on top of their success at the Commonwealth Games and World Cup glory in South Africa, while the men also retained the Ashes and claimed the ICC World Test Championship for the first time.

The loss of $16.9m was forecast by CA officials who saw it as an expected low point in the revenue cycle, but strategic planning has them confident of financial growth in the coming years.

“This 12 months is the difficult period (of the cycle) but we’re certainly very confident of where we’re going,” Baird said.

“We’ve taken actions, we have alignment across the states on a lot of initiatives and there are revenue initiatives in place, but importantly, as the cycle comes towards the next two or three years, the forecast is very strong.

“This result was a strong result relative to the forecast, but we’re very confident about the future. “

This summer isn’t expected to spark a major improvement, with Pakistan and West Indies unlikely to draw huge crowds, but with future series against India and England, CA is confident of a significant “uptick” to get them back in the black.

Originally published as ‘Very confident about the future’: Cricket Australia shrugs off $17m loss