After incurring losses of $9.3 million NZC lock the biggest Indian broadcast deal

New Zealand Cricket (NZC) is all set to declare the financial loss of $9.3 million in the past year as it locked the big Indian broadcast deal. Star Sports India bagged the broadcasting rights of all the cricket played in New Zealand on Tuesday. The hefty deficit will be presented in the annual report during the AGM next Wednesday. However, the officials feel that the next couple of years would be challenging for the board due to the ICC’s new financial model.

New Zealand though is expected to earn a lot of profit as high profile teams are set to arrive the country in the near future. West Indies will tour for a series across all formats in December and then the tri-series is also scheduled which includes Australia, England and the host nation. Moreover, the Men in Blue will visit during the 2018-19 season for 5 ODIs and 3 T20Is ahead of the much-anticipated World Cup in 2019 in England.

That’s been a big jump for us

The Chief Executive of NZC David White explained that the loss was largely due to the new financial model of ICC. Until 2023. NZ’s share of ICC funding would go up from $90 million to $128 million but it was the case of less now and more later. “That’s been a big jump for us but what was agreed was that we get less up front, than was forecast in the old model, and a lot more to the back end of that agreement. That shortfall is primarily the increase but we make up for it significantly in future years,” he said as quoted by Stuff.

New Zealand will play the first-ever Day-Night Test match in the country at Eden Park during their home season and White was hopeful of the response from the fans being more compared to the last wet summer. “It was a big year in terms of volume of cricket so that was quite expensive. The gates were largely influenced by the weather in a pretty wet summer. Apart from that it was pretty much aligned with budget,” he added.

It’ll be a challenging year for us financially. Then we go into the Master Agreement negotiations [with the Players’ Association] and we’ve got this broadcast revenue and we’ve got the ICC funding. We’re in a strong position but the next couple of years will be challenging,” White concluded.