SA cricket stable: Lorgat

Laroon Lorgat, Cricket SA CEO. Photo by AFP/Anesh Debiky

Laroon Lorgat, Cricket SA CEO. Photo by AFP/Anesh Debiky

Published Feb 11, 2014

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Cape Town – Cricket is stable for now but sources of revenue need to be stabilised and diversified in future, Cricket SA CEO Haroon Lorgat said on Tuesday.

“At the moment, cricket is in a stable position from an economic point of view,” he told Parliament's sport and recreation portfolio committee.

“Costs are rising and revenue is not rising at the same time so it's a piece of work we will tackle.” He displayed CSA's financial results for 2012/13 which showed revenue of R521 million, a financial income of R46m and expenses of R700m, resulting in a R133m net loss.

Cash reserves dropped from R475m in 2011/12 to R299m in 2012/13.

Lorgat said the organisation worked in a four-year financial cycle, of which two were profit-making years, mainly due to the Cricket World Cup and lucrative India or England inbound tours, and two loss-making years.

The current cycle would end in 2014.

He said CSA's largest source of revenue came from packaging rights and selling them internationally. On the domestic front, CSA had sponsorships with companies such as SA Breweries (SAB).

Lorgat said CSA was keeping an eye on possible regulatory changes to alcohol advertising, which could affect their 20-year partnership with SAB.

A strategic business challenge was the lack of demand for live match content from the SABC.

“This past year, because of the matches with Pakistan and India, we managed to get the SABC to deliver live content to the nation,” he said.

“In years gone by, we were battling. There is no doubt that in terms of developing the game, spreading the game, spreading the word and what cricket is about, SABC is an important one.” The goal was to engage the broadcaster to ensure the game was on national television and being shown to some 20 million active viewers.

The committee thanked CSA for the presentation but told it off for only submitting the presentation a day beforehand, not seven days in advance.

CSA president Chris Nenzani apologised and said it would not happen again. – Sapa

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