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CSA in the pound seats
03/08/2007 13:06 - (SA)
Johannesburg - Cricket South Africa (CSA) had its best financial year ever in 2006/07, but there are lean times ahead.
That was the warning from CSA treasurer, Professor Hentie van Wyk, when he presented the financial report at CSA's annual general meeting in Kempton Park on Friday.
He announced that the combined operating profit of the amateur and professional arms of cricket in 2006/07 was R140.5m.
"This is largely because of bigger than expected dividends from the World Cup in the West Indies earlier this year, and the ICC Champions Trophy last year," he said. "You can't compare this year to any other financial year - it is totally different for a variety of reasons."
Van Wyk, whose nickname is 'Snyman' because of his propensity to cut costs and keep expenditure down, said CSA had embarked on a four-year fiscal plan, and that the 2006/07 season would be a buffer year to make up for the lean years ahead.
"We expect to make a loss of R72m in the 2007/08 year, and a R45m loss in the following year," he said. "This is because of the teams that will be visiting South Africa. Our money comes largely from the sale of television rights, and we can't charge as much for these rights when we have low profile teams visiting us. For instance, we can't get as much for a tour by New Zealand as we can for a tour by Australia."
He announced that CSA's affiliates, such as schools cricket, would each receive a dividend of R1.3m from the 2003 Cricket World Cup held in South Africa. "I have held this money back, because I wanted to see what happened, but now our financial position is stable, and I can take that item off the agenda at last," he joked.
Van Wyk warned that while the Twenty20 World Championship to be held in South Africa next month was expected to be extremely profitable, not all the profits would go to South Africa.
"The ICC (International Cricket Council) has put a cap on the profits we can take from staging the event," he said. "Anything above that ceiling will be distributed to all the ICC associates."
- SAPA
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