One India tour can help fund New Zealand cricket for two to three years, says sports boss
Indian cricketers Virat Kolli and Suryakumar Yadav.
“When we don’t have India as a touring side to New Zealand, you know, it’s a big loss for us.”
India’s cricket tours are so financially important to New Zealand the revenue they generate can support the game well beyond a single summer, New Zealand Cricket (NZC) chief executive Geoff Allott says.
“For a small country like New Zealand and a small association like New Zealand, it means a heck of a lot,” Allott said in an interview with Namaskar Gujarat in Auckland.
“You know, it largely helps us fund our game for two or three years.”
He said that revenue was important not only for New Zealand’s high-performance cricket programmes but also for investment further down the game.
“We have to have that because of our cost structure if we want to maintain investment into the community and into our clubs,” Allott said.
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“India have been incredibly supportive of New Zealand for a long period of time with consistent tours and we know we can’t be more grateful for that," he added.
“As I say, it underpins the whole of our cricket. It’s not just our high performance structures but it actually also underpins all of our societal and community games as well, which is really, really important.”
India return to New Zealand next month for a 12-match tour across all three formats, running from October 22 to December 1.
NZC has described it as the largest inbound tour in its history by match count, comprising five T20 internationals, five one-day internationals and two Tests across Christchurch, Wellington, Auckland, Hamilton and Tauranga.
The T20 series begins with back-to-back matches at Hagley Oval on October 22 and 24, before moving to Wellington, Auckland and Hamilton.
The five-match ODI series runs from November 4 to 15, before Tests at Wellington’s Basin Reserve from November 19 and Hagley Oval from November 27.
Demand for the tour has already been strong. NZC sold a record 26,000 tickets in the first 48 hours of its Cricket Nation member pre-sale in August.
By early September, more than 50,000 tickets had been sold, with demand prompting Eden Park to open its upper tier for the October 30 T20 international.
Allott said the response reflected the excitement India generated whenever it toured New Zealand. “The fandom from our local Indian diaspora and our local supporters will be amazing,” he said.
“So you combine full stadiums with lots of noise, lots of colour, two great teams going at it. What better way to start the cricket summer?”
The tour will also arrive at an important time financially for NZC. The organisation recently announced a preliminary deficit of $7.3 million for the financial year ended July 31, substantially higher than the $1.8 million deficit it had budgeted for.
NZC has forecast a surplus of more than $10 million in the current financial year, driven largely by broadcast and commercial revenue from the inbound India tour.
Allott has described the latest deficit as “not good enough” and “not sustainable”, saying NZC was reviewing its financial processes and reassessing budgets.
The organisation has also reduced the broadcast schedule for the final season of the Super Smash, with 24 of its 64 matches due to be televised.
Allott said India’s value to New Zealand cricket went beyond any one financial year. “I think for all nations, frankly, India touring is significantly important,” he said.
“When we don’t have India as a touring side to New Zealand, you know, it’s a big loss for us.”
He said there was also considerable sporting anticipation around the series following New Zealand’s recent success in India.
“The fact that New Zealand went over to India recently and won a series in India creates a little bit of a fire in the belly, no doubt, for the Indian players,” Allott said.
“Equally, New Zealand players will want to make sure that we cement that dominance, if you like, I say carefully.”
