Cricket SA counts R250 million loss after Covid impact and postponed tours
Cricket South Africa (CSA) is licking its wounds after losing R250 million this financial year due to the coronavirus pandemic impact that forced numerous tour cancellations, among other crippling disruptions.
CSA revealed this at last Saturday's first leg of their annual general meeting, concluding at Wednesday's continuation.
However, having budgeted an R180 million loss for 2020/21, CSA was reasonably satisfied with efforts at mitigating the bleeding. CSA was also one of few sports federations without industry-wide salary cuts.
Since the pandemic struck in SA in March last year, the men's Proteas tour to India was curtailed midway through that month.
Last August's West Indies tour was rescheduled to this June and is currently on the go in the Caribbean.
However, the crucial India and Australia inbound tours that didn't happen, as well as England leaving SA in bizarre circumstances before completing their allotted three ODIs last December, hurt CSA's bottom line.
CSA lodged an official complaint with global governing body, the International Cricket Council (ICC), after Australia pulled out of their tour to SA at the 11th hour.
"It's important for us to acknowledge that we are going to go through challenging times," said newly elected CSA president Rihan Richards.
"If you consider that in this financial period we are in, we are looking at a loss of R250 million.
"At the same time, the originally budgeted loss for the same period was R180 million. In this cycle, we have also lost the tour to India due to Covid, the truncated tour with England, and the cancelled Australia tour.
"If you take into consideration what that would contribute just in international broadcasting rights, that would have generated revenue of around R250 million.
"You can see that, despite the lights flickering, management is taking steps to [recoup] those losses.
"We must never rest on our laurels. We might have one of the best television broadcast deals with Star TV, Sky, and our rights are being sold worldwide, [but] if we cannot play and cannot host in satisfactory conditions, that revenue will be jeopardised."
CSA posted a surprise R50 million profit in their 2019/20 annual report last year, a dramatic U-turn from their R200 million loss the previous financial year.
Due to a weak rand last year, the upswing worked in CSA's favour as their international broadcast deals are negotiated in US dollars.
CSA is negotiating with Australia to have the postponed tour rescheduled before the new Future Tours Programme was in place, preferably by the end of this year.
South Africa also has a gentlemen's agreement to stage the India tour in SA this summer, which would boost their coffers massively.
Acting CEO Pholetsi Moseki was also confident that signs were pointing to a positive upturn again despite the losses.
"As you can imagine, losing R250 million from our top line due to the curtailed England tour and the Indian tour that didn't happen was always going to be a massive hit on our books," he said.
"We are hopeful that things will improve going forward. We are just glad to be where we are today, where we can actually see the light."
This article originally appeared on Sport 24
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