IPL and other T20 franchise leagues ‘pose threat to ECB’s financial future’

The ECB has warned of the potentially cataclysmic impact of the rising power of overseas franchises such as the IPL while the appeal of Test cricket declines.

English cricket’s governing body said the “emergence and growth of global franchise leagues” and “the status of Test cricket globally” pose major risks to its business model in its latest accounts, published on Wednesday.

With the ECB expected to overhaul its central contracts system this year – introducing multi-year deals and significantly increasing match fees in an effort to retain the loyalty of leading players – it also draws attention to the “pressure on player wage inflation in a highly competitive market” as a potential threat.

The owners of several IPL teams are known to want to tie players to 12-month contracts and it was recently reported that several English cricketers had been approached to see if they would, in principle, be willing to accept such a deal.

Venky Mysore, the chief executive of the Kolkata Knight Riders, said last year: “If we were able to have ‘X’ number of contracted players, and were able to use them all in different leagues, I think that would be nirvana. Hopefully, someday it will happen.”

The ECB’s spending on salaries has massively increased in recent years – more than doubling from £25.8m in 2018-19 to £57.4m in 2022-23 – and the need to increase payments to star players is sure to push that figure further upwards.

The launch of the Women’s Premier League, a T20 franchise league based in India, and the success of the ECB’s own women’s Hundred suggests salary inflation will also impact the 18 centrally contracted women players.

Since 2018-19 the number of cricketers employed by the ECB has risen from 37 to 128, with average