Is Test cricket financially sustainable?

BBC News

a day ago

This week's World Test Championship final between Australia and South Africa at Lord's is the longer format's showpiece.The fixture also represents an opportunity to celebrate international cricket's historic, and most romanticised, format.For the majority of its 148-year life, Test cricket has been treasured as the pinnacle of the sport, but over the past two decades its popularity has diminished in some countries.The growth of shorter formats, and especially T20, has played a part and for some national boards Test cricket is seen as a financial millstone amid poor attendances and declining interest.BBC Sport has spoken to some of the game's senior figures to consider the key fiscal challengers which face Test cricket – and whether it's possible to solve them.
What is the World Test Championship - and has it worked?
The World Test Championship (WTC) was conceived during Greg Barclay's chairmanship of the International Cricket Council (ICC). Barclay, who stepped down last December after four years in the role, said it was a necessary step to ensure Test cricket appealed to modern fans.Each WTC cycle runs for two years. Teams play six series in that time - three at home and three away - with 12 points awarded for winning a match, six for a tie and four for a draw.However, as teams play a different number of Tests across their six series, the table is ranked by percentage of points won."The format of the WTC has got its critics and justifiably so, but we had to do something," Barclay told BBC Sport."I think it's driven a lot of interest in Test cricket. Conceptually it's been a real positive addition to the cricketing calendar. "If you have context, relevance and a bit of jeopardy the fans get far more involved in it." While the WTC is only in its third iteration, there is much work to be done to ensure it has the "sporting integrity" to help aid Test cricket's finances, according to former West Indies chief executive Johnny Grave."It's not 'pure' in the sense that every team plays equal games, that there's genuine jeopardy in terms of who might win, central marketing, revenue sharing and collective selling," Grave explained."All these things, in terms of the theory behind how and why a sports league works, don't exist within the WTC."We have a WTC where if you're being really honest, the most valuable fixture - India versus Pakistan - within that league never happens. It's like having La Liga but Barcelona and Real Madrid not playing each other."Three countries - Zimbabwe, Ireland and Afghanistan - play Test cricket but are not in the WTC.Cricket Ireland chief executive Warren Deutrom said he had a "very open mind" about the Irish joining the WTC in future, even though they currently only play Test cricket sporadically at the moment.But Deutrom acknowledged there would need to be more ICC funding - Ireland currently receive around $6m a year in the current cycle - for that to be a reality. "To be very blunt about it, if there was a was a change in the funding structure then it is something which we would give serious consideration," he added.
Some players earning 10 times more in franchise cricket
For players from England, Australia and India, playing Test cricket is financially rewarding.Ben Stokes, England's Test captain, has a central contract reportedly worth £2.47m a year with the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB)Not all boards have the same depth of financial resources.So inevitably, there has been a talent drain towards franchise cricket, frequently ensuring the most talented players are not always available for Test commitments.WTC finalists South Africa were criticised for sending a weakened squad on a Test tour of New Zealand so their star players could play in the country's domestic franchise tournament, the SA20. That notion appeared to go a step further this week when Nicholas Pooran, who has never played a Test match, decided to retire from international cricket for West Indies at the age of 29.Pooran is paid $2.5m for his participation in the IPL alone, while the top-earning centrally contracted players with Cricket West Indies earn $200,000.The idea of the ICC ring-fencing a Test fund to financially incentivise players to play the format has been mooted in the past."It has to be something that's looked at," said Grave, who is now the chief executive of Major League Cricket in the USA, but an advocate for Test cricket."Players will make decisions about what's good for them and their livelihoods and their future financial security."Deutrom believes there should be a degree of a financial autonomy for the likes of Cricket Ireland to decide how to spend the cash."I think the way it would work is that you would incentivise the boards in order to make sure that the players could be incentivised," he said."Every member deals with its players differently, incentivises different formats. Obviously we are very familiar with the approach England takes in terms of the incentivisation of its players to play Test cricket."Barclay remains more cautious and would be "loathe to see a direct subsidy" to enable Test cricket to be played. He added the idea "wasn't seriously discussed during my watch" at the ICC but conceded "there may be a slightly different emphasis" now."It's a case of prioritising, using resources sensibly, and accordingly," Barclay said."New Zealand obviously won the first WTC. That's a country with pretty limited resources, but it demonstrates that you don't necessarily need to have large pools of money put aside."
Can Test cricket tap into fresh markets?
"My dream is that in my lifetime I will be able to see India and China playing against each other in Test cricket," said Malcolm Speed when he was ICC chief executive in 2007.BBC Sport understands the ICC sent a delegation to China last year, but the longer format was not part of discussions in any formal sense. Speed's comments feel like pie in the sky, yet China never had a world snooker champion until it had one. There were 34,000 snooker halls in the country around the time Speed made his remarks - there are now 300,000.Could Test cricket expand to new frontiers to boost its financial sustainability?"The ICC made both Ireland and Afghanistan full members in 2017 but it did not mean it was the end of the line," Barclay said."Again it's the old adage of being careful what you wish for, because once you become a full member you move into another echelon and you have a lot of commitments that you need to make. It costs a lot of money."Everyone thinks that becoming a full member is this financial El Dorado, and it kind of is. But if broadcast revenues and commercial outcomes were to fall away, and the full members have to split their pie other ways, it might not be the financial boost they are expecting that it is."Nepal, USA, UAE and Scotland are all seen as future Test-playing nations, even if there does not appear a rush for any of them to assume full member status. BBC Sport has been told there are no extra financial incentives from the ICC for those nations to develop their domestic structures for red-ball cricket.Barclay said it is "really important" to "have a basis for the game and playing red ball cricket at domestic level".Deutrom indicated a way to ensure growth and financial sustainability of the format to those who have recently come into the fold would be to remove some of the costly barriers to staging Test cricket."To preserve the prestige of the format doesn't necessarily mean it should be so exclusive as to be unaffordable," he added."Perhaps we could potentially remove some of the preciousness around how everything has to be done. With 24 to 30 cameras, Super Slo-mo, DRS, etc."
Revenue-sharing model needs review
In England, Australia and India, Test cricket's appeal to broadcasters can still move the needle for broadcasters, sponsors and fans.The deal between the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) and Sky Sports is currently worth £880m.A sold-out Ashes Test, for example, can largely determine the balance sheet of an English county side.For the Test-playing countries outside the so-called 'big three', attendances for matches have dwindled and broadcast revenues are considerably smaller.Grave has long argued for a more even distribution of the pie."West Indies haven't got terrible overnight at Test cricket. Pakistan haven't fallen down the rankings overnight," he said."This has been a gradual decline since satellite TV came in, in 2001. And the economics of the game just changed, evolved dramatically over 20 years. "So in order to get up to where Test cricket could be, it's probably going to take another 20 years of changing the model before you're really going to see the benefit."England paid a touring fee to Zimbabwe for their Test at Trent Bridge last month and Grave believes the 'big three' should give a share of revenues from Tests where they are fulfilling broadcast contracts."I found it frustrating when we would come to England at a cost of $1m to Cricket West Indies and see no revenue," Grave added."We were regularly spending $25,000 on one flight for one player to Australia. The flights are tourist flights and therefore the price is through the roof."
Four days and eight-ball overs?
There has not been a single three-match Test series not involving at least one of England, Australia and India since 2019.The main reason for the truncation of a series is that it is not possible to be fitted in because of the need for three days of rest between matches.Broadcasters have to provide an expensive outlay for a fifth day which doesn't always happen.Is it time for four-day Tests to become the norm? Barclay thinks it should be considered. "Anything is on the table and if that helps in terms of the betterment and maintenance of Test cricket then absolutely we should be looking at doing that," Barclay said.Grave can see the practical benefits to keep fans engaged.He said: "I would have all Test matches starting on a Thursday and finishing on a Sunday."When you have a longer Test series, and you have a complete week off, that ends up for the fan being 10 days off, it's quite difficult to switch on a casual fan and remind them the Test series is still going on."The former West Indies chief executive even suggested bolder proposals to get the game done within a four-day timeframe - including tweaking the number of balls in an over."The Hundred doesn't have six balls in every over. So why couldn't Test cricket have three sessions of 25 overs and eight balls for example?" Grave added."You'd have 400 overs and that's probably for most Test matches, plenty of overs for all teams to bat twice and have a really meaningful contest."
So, is Test cricket financially sustainable?
Test cricket's appeal would seem to lie in its brand legacy. As in other walks of life an individual's lifestyle choices change with age – and perhaps T20 can be the gateway to fans whose tastes alter later in life.For Barclay the format is "in pretty good fettle" despite concerns it is facing some sort of existential crisis."I absolutely say it's sustainable. I think it's the format of the game which really represents the essence of cricket," Barclay said."To allow it to fall away, or in any way be compromised, I think would be at a massive loss to cricket as a sport. It's incumbent on everyone involved in the game to ensure Test cricket does sustain itself financially."The phrase I use is cross subsidisation so having an unabashed form of the game which is generating the revenue in T20 enables investment back into [Test cricket]."The game's never been more wealthy and more lucrative but it's never needed as much money now as it what it has so I guess you have to trade off in terms of what your priorities are."Grave is adamant changes need to be made to a "broken model" for the format to endure in monetary terms otherwise "the majority of Test cricket will just be played by three teams"."If the game of cricket wants Test cricket to be financially sustainable, I genuinely believe it is. Is it sustainable in its current model? Almost certainly no," Grave said.While balancing the books weighs on Deutrom's mind, it does no detract from an unbridled passion for Ireland to continue to play the longer format."The discussion about Test cricket doesn't start with finance and funding," Deutrom added."It's a format that we all love. It absolutely symbolises and exemplifies the journey Irish cricket has taken."So any discussion around, funding and finance has to be placed within that context in the first instance."During a round of interviews as he embarked on a stint at Middlesex, former New Zealand captain Kane Williamson recently said red-ball cricket was the "soul" of the game while Virat Kohli chose the IPL final to declare his deep love for the format.Barclay's successor as ICC chair, Jay Shah, is said to be a fan of Test cricket by those who know him well which would at least appear to safeguard its financial future for the immediate term at least.But perhaps Test cricket is too valuable, regardless of the cost.