Marcus Hook’s Surrey CCC column: It makes no sense for Sky Sports not to pack their schedule with T20 Blast coverage
With Vitality Blast fixtures coming thicker and faster than at any time in the competition’s history – mainly to accommodate The Hundred – the government’s announcement that crowd capacities for outdoor sports events will have to remain capped at 25 per cent or 10,000, whichever is smaller, for another four weeks is a huge worry in financial terms.
The Blast is county cricket’s money-spinner so, coupled with the bad weather, the revenue counties were hoping to generate from ticket sales will be down significantly this summer.
The first-class counties also receive a share of the takings for international matches, which means any dilution in the number of fans attending Tests and One-Day Internationals will also turn what have generally been modest annual profits for the 18 clubs into losses.
But there is some good news. Increased crowd numbers will be permitted for matches that form part of the government’s Events Research Programme, hence why the ECB have applied for England men’s upcoming white-ball matches against Sri Lanka and Pakistan to form part of the ERP.
Fans will have to present a negative Covid-19 lateral flow test result, taken within 24 hours before the start of play, to gain entry. Once inside the venue, the wearing of masks will be mandatory in certain areas.
It means that, once again, the only cricket many of us will get to see this summer will be on our television screens and online.
Having been glad to have the counties’ live streams to fall back on when the Indian Premier League was postponed, it’s disappointing that Sky Sports have only chosen to broadcast a handful of Blast fixtures, preferring instead to give prominence to the Pakistan Super League.
With so many channels at their disposal and having paid a record amount for the rights to televise domestic cricket, you would have thought Sky would have wanted to pack its schedule with the Blast, even when there is a PSL game, but no.
As if that’s not bad enough, the night Surrey played Essex, the same Superleague Netball contest was on three Sky Sports channels simultaneously.
PICTURE: KEITH GILLARD