P Deeley: Sponsors switch to greener pastures (26 Jul 1998)

26 July 1998

Sponsors switch to greener pastures

By Peter Deeley

IF interest in cricket is on the wane, as so many critics have argued in the wake of yet another dismal England Test series, the crowds who have flocked to remodelled Trent Bridge suggest there is still a huge fund of goodwill for the game.

The Nottingham ground is the smallest of England's Test grounds yet it has been filled almost to capacity, increased to 14,500 by the magnificent new stand opened by Sir Gary Sobers on the eve of the fourth Cornhill Test.

Over 40,000 have paid more than UKP 1.2 million on the first three days, a level of interest which has been maintained at all but the Manchester Test earlier this month.

There does seem a greater level of spectator resistance in the North these days - possibly a reflection of differing North-South tastes. While Leeds, setting next month for the final England-South Africa Test, is reporting only a low level of pre-match ticket sales, the Oval can hardly accommodate those who want to see the one-off Test featuring Sri Lanka.

More worryingly for the game, sponsors are looking for more commercially fruitful sporting arenas. AXA, the insurance company who supported the Sunday League competition for six years, have moved their money into football.

AXA pumped around UKP 8 million into cricket: now they are putting up UKP 25 million to underwrite the FA Cup for four years.

Mark Wood, AXA's chief executive, said his company's change of policy had been prompted by "football's broad appeal and the fact that interest is running so high. A company of our size needs to be associated with that appeal and at the moment football represents the perfect market place. Cricket does not have the scope to compete with football".

That view appears to have much support in the High Street. The England and Wales Cricket Board are hunting high and low for sponsors for four competitions next summer.

They cannot even yet find anyone to underwrite the one-day series between England, South Africa and Sri Lanka which is only three weeks distant.

The ECB have hinted that one of the yet unidentified major sponsors for next year's World Cup may be offered extra exposure by having their name attached to the one-day series.

The board are also expecting soon to announce the outcome of negotiations with television companies for the future coverage of Test cricket now that they have been given permission to look beyond the BBC.

It is indeed from the small screen that cricket is now looking to generate the money needed to keep it buoyant. The board believe sponsors will flood in when they know the future of the Test game on television and say the World Cup could produce UKP 10 million.

So all is not gloom and doom. The ECB say "interest is tremendous" and the Trent Bridge crowds give some support to that claim.

Source :: Electronic Telegraph (https://www.telegraph.co.uk)