Cricket Australia’s coffers boosted by World Cup

MELBOURNE (Reuters) – Cricket Australia recorded a net surplus of $99 million in the last financial year following the co-hosting of the 2015 World Cup with New Zealand, the board said after its annual general meeting on Thursday.

Revenue increased to $380.9 million from $295.9 million after its share of the net profit from the 50-overs tournament in February-March.

“Last summer was billed as the biggest ever in the history of Australian cricket and it lived up to that promise,” CA Chief Executive James Sutherland said in a statement.

“The World Cup was easily the biggest sporting event this country has seen since the Sydney Olympics and has left a positive legacy for cricket in Australia, particularly in its ability to unite people of many cultural backgrounds in their passion for the game.”

The discontinuation of the Champions League Twenty20 tournament, which was run since 2009 by the cricket boards of India, Australia and South Africa, this year also boosted the board’s coffers.

CA said it would invest some $60 million, with a major focus on the development of women’s cricket.

Revenue was projected to rise to $1.32 billion for the four-year reporting period from 2013-14 to 2016-17, up from $736 million in the previous four-year period.

“The financial benefit from the tournament will be spread over the long term given that staging World Cups in Australia happens only once every 20-25 years,” Sutherland added.

(Writing by Sudipto Ganguly; editing by Peter Rutherford)