ECB insist new Hundred competition WILL go ahead without fans if necessary

‘If we have to be behind closed doors, let’s make it an entertainment product’: ECB chairman Colin Graves insists new Hundred competition WILL go ahead without fans if it has to

  • ECB are willing to launch new Hundred competition without crowds if necessary
  • The planned launch of the controversial new format was postponed this summer
  • ECB decided to hold off on the tournament due to the coronavirus pandemic 
  • But now ECB chairman Colin Graves says it will go ahead with or without fans

The ECB are willing to launch the new Hundred competition without crowds next year if necessary, according to outgoing chairman Colin Graves. 

The planned launch of the controversial new format was postponed this summer due to spectators being prohibited in the midst of the shutdown, as was revealed by Sportsmail in April, but Graves claims the ECB are determined that it should take place next year even if it had to be played behind closed doors. 

Sky Sports and the BBC have withheld a combined rights fee of around £34million that was due to be paid for live TV rights for the Hundred this summer, and securing that income next year is crucial to the ECB’s finances. 

The ECB are willing to launch new Hundred competition without crowds next year if necessary 

The governing body are forecasting minimum losses of £106m this year due to lost TV, ticketing and hospitality revenue, and that figure would increase by a further £70m if they are unable to sell tickets for next year’s international series against India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

The success of England’s biosecure Test series has convinced the ECB that cricket can be successfully staged as a TV spectacle, a view endorsed by the Hundred board at a meeting last week. 

‘If we have to be behind closed doors, let’s make a product to get a new audience watching the game,’ said Graves. ‘We’ve seen it on TV this year with no crowds and the viewing figures both on Sky and BBC for cricket are fantastic. They have gone through the roof.

ECB chairman Colin Graves says the new tournament will go ahead with or without fans

ECB chairman Colin Graves says the new tournament will go ahead with or without fans

‘It would be a challenge, but the Hundred board is very positive that if we cannot have crowds next year, they believe we should go ahead with the tournament as an entertainment product.’

Graves will leave the ECB this month to be replaced by former FA chief executive Ian Watmore. 

Graves, 72, on Friday admitted to having a few regrets during his five-year term, particularly describing the Twenty20 Blast as ‘mediocre’, a phrase he also applied to West Indies in 2015 before a drawn Test series.

He said: ‘I put my hand up — I could have said it better.’

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