Warwickshire County Cricket Club has issued its 2024 Annual Report as the Club points to a “positive sales outlook” for the coming 12 months.
Figures for the financial year ended 31 December 2024 recorded the Club’s income at £25.1m with an EBITDA profit of £1.9m.
Both represent a fall on 2023 – down £7.7m and £4.2m respectively – which was anticipated following a sold out 5-day Ashes Test at Edgbaston in the previous summer.
However, Warwickshire CCC Strategy Director, Craig Flindall, said the outlook for the coming year is strong.
“The sales outlook for 2025 is positive with high demand for the England vs India Men’s Test Match,” he added, “plus the Men’s day-night ODI against West Indies, the ever-popular T20 Blast Finals Day and Women’s IT20 against India. We’ve also seen strong commitment from our Members with renewals.
“Income and earnings are principally driven by the attractiveness of our Major Match programme which is built into our long term forecasting. The Test Match here against the West Indies last summer also finished in under three days, which resulted in lower hospitality and catering revenue.
“However, there was lots to celebrate, not least the introduction of a new tournament at Edgbaston – The World Championship of Legends. This was successful financially, attracted new audiences, and also showed that we can still focus on cricket yet diversify in order to reduce our reliance on Test Match revenues.
“The Legends event returns this summer and we expect it to keep growing year on year after a very positive start.
“Revenue also grew from commercial sponsorship deals with our key partners who continue to provide loyal support to the Warwickshire and Edgbaston brands. Those partnerships are expected to gain even greater strength with the addition of the Bears Women in 2025.”
The Club’s full Annual Report can be read here: edgbaston.com/annualreport
The last 12-months saw the Club progress its ambitious Masterplan project with the latest phase – the rebuilding of the Raglan and Priory stands with an integrated Radisson Red hotel – receiving planning approval from Birmingham City Council.
Work is due to start in September this year and be ready in time for the men’s Ashes Test in summer 2027.
Flindall added: “Other major projects in the year included investment in the Edgbaston outfield, creation of the professional women’s performance centre, and a new LED scoreboard and advertising ribbons which created additional opportunities for advertising revenue.
“Overall the Club’s financial position remains healthy and group debt was also significantly reduced (down £3.3m to £17.7m) following further loan repayments to Birmingham City Council and ECB.”
Warwickshire Chief Executive Stuart Cain said maintaining a secure financial footing has allowed them to invest in the men’s and women’s squads, stadium infrastructure, and the community.
He added: “We’ve made substantial investments around the ground, including more than £200,000 to develop a new high performance area for Bears Women. It was right to give them the best possible start in this new, exciting era for women’s cricket and I’m hugely proud to welcome them into the Bears family.
“And we continue to do all we can to strengthen both our men’s and women’s squads.
“We’ve brought in some fresh faces to the Bears Women side, including the loan signing of Dutch international Sterre Kalis, with another overseas player in the pipeline.
“Ethan Bamber has started well and we will soon be welcoming New Zealand Test captain Tom Latham and Australia international Beau Webster to the men’s squad, while Pakistan’s Hassan Ali returns to his ‘second home’ here this summer.”
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