Profits fall at Warwickshire County Cricket Club as club points to ‘positive sales outlook’
Warwickshire County Cricket Club has reported a fall in profits, attributing the downturn to increased costs and the absence of blockbuster fixtures like the 2023 Ashes Test.
Income for the year to 31 December 2024 dropped to £25.1m, with EBITDA at £1.9m, both down £7.7m and £4.2m from the previous year, which benefited from the sold-out five-day Ashes Test at Edgbaston.
Despite the drop, the mood at Edgbaston remains upbeat, with major fixtures and fresh initiatives on the horizon as the club points to a ‘positive sales outlook’ for the coming year.
Craig Flindall, strategy director at Warwickshire CCC said: “The sales outlook for 2025 is positive with high demand for the England vs India Men’s Test Match, plus the Men’s day-night ODI against West Indies, the ever-popular T20 Blast Finals Day and Women’s IT20 against India. We’ve also seen strong commitment from our Members with renewals.
“Income and earnings are principally driven by the attractiveness of our Major Match programme, which is built into our long-term forecasting. The Test Match here against the West Indies last summer also finished in under three days, which resulted in lower hospitality and catering revenue.
“However, there was lots to celebrate, not least the introduction of a new tournament at Edgbaston – The World Championship of Legends. This was successful financially, attracted new audiences, and also showed that we can still focus on cricket, yet diversify to reduce our reliance on Test Match revenues. The Legends event returns this summer, and we expect it to keep growing year on year after a very positive start.
“Revenue also grew from commercial sponsorship deals with our key partners who continue to provide loyal support to the Warwickshire and Edgbaston brands. Those partnerships are expected to gain even greater strength with the addition of the Bears Women in 2025.”
Off the field, Warwickshire made progress on several projects. The next phase of its Edgbaston Masterplan, rebuilding the Raglan and Priory stands and adding a Radisson Red hotel, was granted planning approval and is set to begin in September, ready for the 2027 men’s Ashes.
Other recent investments include upgrades to the outfield, a new LED scoreboard and digital ad ribbons, and the creation of a professional women’s performance centre.
Flindall continued: “Overall, the Club’s financial position remains healthy and group debt was also significantly reduced (down £3.3m to £17.7m) following further loan repayments to Birmingham City Council and ECB.”
Chief executive Stuart Cain said: “We’ve made substantial investments around the ground, including more than £200,000 to develop a new high-performance area for Bears Women. It was right to give them the best possible start in this new, exciting era for women’s cricket, and I’m hugely proud to welcome them into the Bears family. And we continue to do all we can to strengthen both our men’s and women’s squads.
“We’ve brought in some fresh faces to the Bears Women’s side, including the loan signing of Dutch international Sterre Kalis, with another overseas player in the pipeline. Ethan Bamber has started well and we will soon be welcoming New Zealand Test captain Tom Latham and Australia international Beau Webster to the men’s squad, while Pakistan’s Hassan Ali returns to his ‘second home’ here this summer.”
