Cricket Australia increase bio-security budget to $30m to save Seven deal
Hockley will have a meeting with Seven today
|Getty
Cricket Australia have increased their biosecurity budget to $30m for the India series along with Big Bash League as the body try to protect its broadcast rights with Seven. Recently, there has been a breakdown in the relation between two parties and Seven threatened to walk away from the deal.
In May, Cricket Australia’s then CEO Kevin Roberts had stated that the governing body for cricket in Australia would need to spend $10m on biosecurity. But with the second wave of Covid-19 hitting Australia, Sydney Morning Herald reported that costs have reached three times that amount. As a matter of fact, the bill covers everything from charter flights to booking out whole sections of hotels and the purchase of COVID-19 test kits by themselves.
According to the CA broadcast deal, the home summer is worth more than $300m for Cricket Australia, with Foxtel and Seven paying nearly $200m between them per year under their agreement. Given India touring this year, there is an extra windfall as well - something Cricket Australia is eager to keep.
The publication also reported that CA’s interim chief executive Nick Hockley was due to sit down with Seven boss James Warburton in Sydney on Friday. His scheduled meet with Foxtel CEO Patrick Delaney for Thursday was pushed to next Tuesday. Recently, Warburton criticised CA as a "train wreck" and the most incompetent administration he had worked with and stated that the network could terminate its $450m deal over fears of a substandard Big Bash.
