Where is Cricket Ireland spending their money?

A breakdown of CI's publicly available financial accounts from 2024

📸: Cricket Ireland

Social media never needs much of an excuse to criticise Cricket Ireland.

The latest cause celebre? The start of the domestic professional season has brought a new, pared back broadcast offering. On Sunday, the start of the Super Series saw the Typhoons beat the Dragons. The interpros had their turn on Wednesday.

The only thing people were talking about, though, was the paltry stream offering. Gone are the days of multi-camera outfits which track the ball to the boundary. No more commentators either.

Now, we have a single camera on top of the sight screen. If the ball is hit to the boundary, you can’t see where it lands or if it hits the rope. There’s no voice to tell you either. Just wait for the umpire’s signal.

There are replays, just badly timed ones. The early boundaries of Leinster’s innings against Munster on Wednesday cut to batters running between the wicket, instead of showing the actual shot played. One boundary replay took so long that we missed the next ball, the dismissal of Tim Tector. There was no commentator to explain what we missed.

Cue uproar in some corners of the internet. After two years of FTP fixtures falling by the wayside, once again we see an apparent example of Cricket Ireland cutbacks despite an increase in ICC funding.

They even appear to have a sponsor for this stream. The logo of Indian fantasy cricket company Dream11 is visible on-screen. Yet any income made from that arrangement has not preserved the quality of the broadcast.

It should be said that the T20 games will revert back to a multi-camera operation, with commentators to boot. It’s the 50-over games which suffer this fate.

This column is not about the merits of that decision. There is an argument to be made that not enough people engage with 50-over cricket to warrant the significant expenditure of a stream. Instead, this seems as good an opportunity as any to point to the recent publication of Cricket Ireland’s financial accounts for 2024.

If the interpro stream controversy is the latest way fans ask the question - where does Cricket Ireland spend there new ICC money? - these accounts provide some sort of an answer.

2024 was the first year that CI received a vast increase in funding from the ICC, as part of the new four-year television rights cycle for events run by the global governing body. From 2024-2027, CI is expected to receive $70 million. However, $12 million of that will be withheld to the back end of the cycle, to protect against the next TV contract signed by the ICC declining in value. The recent commentary out of India, suggesting an unwillingness to play Pakistan anymore due to flaring political tensions, would dramatically reduce the TV value of ICC competitions, leading to all members suffering. That $12 million is held as a buffer against such fluctuations.

Last year, CI was under the impression they could access some of that withheld pot. They were ultimately rebuffed, leading to the high profile cancellation of the proposed visit of Australia.

All told, CI received €12.6 million from the ICC last year, a significant increase from 2023’s figure of just under €4 million. However, that larger number dropped pretty quickly due to the required repayment of a separate loan CI took from the ICC. €1.3 million of that loan appeared in the accounts as falling due in 2024, combined with an interest payment of €135,938. Charging interest on this loan borders on scandalous. The ICC is supposed to be a member’s organisation, operating on behalf of its constituent governing bodies. Since when does acting for the benefit of member nations involve profiting of their financial woe?

In real terms, that €12.6 million figure drops closer to €11.2 million. While not what was previously advertised, it’s still a sizeable chunk more than what was received last year. In its summary at the top of the accounts, CI approximates the increase at €6.2 million.

Where does the money go?

CI receives plenty of public criticism for the size of the organisation. Why have their current volume of staff if the number of senior internationals continues to stagnate?

In 2024, the amount of people being paid by CI rose from 117 to 127. This includes 67 players either on a contract or receiving List A match fees (up from 64), 12 match officials (up from eight) and 48 administration staff (up from 45).

From 2023 to 2024, the total figure spent on staff, including salaries, social insurance and pension contributions, rose from €5.3 million to €6.5 million. The figure spent on those labelled in the accounts as “key management” rose from €940,000 to €1.04 million. The number of personnel in this category increased from seven to nine, one of those almost certainly being new head of high performance, Graeme West, whose salary would have come onto the books in October.

All told, the cost of the most senior staff rose by just under €100,000, while the total staff bill increased by around €1.2 million. 2024 did see a protracted negotiation of new player contracts, the result an increase in player salary. There is no way to tell from these accounts how much of the total increase went on players compared to administration staff, or indeed what this year’s player salary situation is. The list of 2025 central contracts, which kicked in on March 1st, has not yet been announced.

The increased staff costs represents roughly 11% of the net ICC money coming from Dubai. As a whole figure, CI spent in the region of 57% of its 2024 ICC money on staff.

Bizarrely, the only employee whose exact salary we see is the chairman. Brian MacNeice received just under €30,000 in 2024, compared to €26,000 in 2023. This is a somewhat strange quirk of accounting tradition in that, while technically the most senior figure in the company, MacNeice is the only part-time figure in the senior leadership team.

CI’s website lists eight full-time employees among their senior leadership, the CEO Warren Deutrom, head of cricket Richard Holdsworth and new director of high performance Graeme West among them. The salaries of these full-time employees to are not as transparent as MacNeice’s, even though the latter is not as involved in the day-to-day business of the company given his full-time employment elsewhere. We are instead told that they cost the organisation €1 million collectively in 2024. There is a similar lack of transparency in player or coaching salaries.

That is the most detailed breakdown of a significant expense available in the accounts. We do see that CI lost €250,000 in the depreciation of its fixed assets, spent €125,000 on the leasing of motor vehicles, had a rent bill of €40,000 and lost €120,000 on currency exchange - the ICC pays its money in dollars, CI operates in euro and pounds.

For those drawing the connection between the vehicle leasing and last year’s Tesla-gate, we can see a the balance sheet entry for cars at just under €41,000. Given there was no asset in this ledger in 2023, it’s safe to assume this is the sole Tesla CI opted to keep after their decision to obtain two of the cars caused controversy last year. One was returned after a public backlash.

Also of note is CI’s liabilities. Listed under “creditors: amounts falling due within one year” was a figure of €4.04 million. This includes the repayment of the ICC loan plus an additional loan payment of €186,000 to an unnamed financial institution. CI owed €825,000 to trade creditors in 2024, while €1.2 million of the total creditors figure came from deferred income.

That’s what went out the door, but did anything else come in other than the ICC cash?

Grants from the government rose along with the increased ICC funding. Sport Ireland sent €1.6 million to CI in 2024, extra money coming from cricket obtaining status as an Olympic sport, while Sport Northern Ireland provided €610,000.

Other income, which CI generates itself, dropped substantially. Broadcast revenue fell by almost two thirds from €1.5 million in 2023 to €533,000 in 2024. CI says that the decrease can be explained by India touring in 2023. Sponsorship also fell from €2.74 million in 2023 to €980,000 in 2024.

There are a handful of assets also worth noting, including a debtors figure of €1.36 million, €490,000 worth of stocks (down from €573,000 in 2023) and €301,000 worth of cash in the bank (compared to €434,000 in 2023).

What, then, to make of it all?

CI is certainly more cash rich this year than last, thanks largely to the new ICC funding. While the immediate financial picture has improved, the sustainability of that position can be questioned, given the two main drivers of self-sufficient income - sponsorship and broadcast - have seen their output drop.

A new men’s sponsor was secured towards the back end of 2024, while this year’s visit of England should increase broadcast revenue. We await the current year’s accounts to see if this lessens the financial reliance on the ICC.

The notes to the accounts predict greater revenue in 2025 from selling franchises involved in the European T20 Premier League. Confirmation of the competition’s postponement, previously reported on this site, is expected in the coming weeks.

It is also worth noting that CI’s current broadcast deal expires in 2026. That is one to watch in the next two years as it will reveal plenty on the value of Ireland’s home matches.

There are a few other expenses which we have seen elsewhere but are not detailed at length in these accounts. There is no precise figure for how much money was sent in the direction of the provincial unions, but we do know that Cricket Leinster has budgeted for just over €230,000 in CI money during the first six months of this year.

Still, these accounts are the most detailed breakdown we receive on issues which are vital to the survival of our sport. They are worth delving into. Should anyone wish to be sent them, reach out below.