Two-day Test leaves $25 million revenue hole as MCC stands by curator

The Melbourne Cricket Club is standing by embattled curator Matt Page after the Boxing Day Test debacle left an estimated $25 million revenue hole in the pockets of Australian cricket stakeholders.

As Cricket Australia braces for a pitch fail from the International Cricket Council, its broadcast partners were on Sunday privately fuming as they count the cost of the second two-day Test of the Ashes summer.

While CA chief Todd Greenberg said the governing body estimated a revenue hit of at least $10 million, some of which can be minimised through reduced operational costs, the impact of the early finish is also being felt in other parts of the Australian cricket ecosystem.

Two sources with direct knowledge of the numbers have told this masthead the difference between a Boxing Day Test going for two days compared with four is worth about $25 million in revenue across lost sales in tickets and food and beverage, and for the broadcasters.

If the Sydney Test, which lasted just three days last season, does not go the distance, broadcasters would be required to return money to advertisers and sponsors.

In a five-Test summer, cricket broadcasters typically budget on 20 days of play – an average of four per game – to break even. Even with a five-day Test in Sydney, there will only be 18 days of action, which equates to about a 10 per cent shortfall.

Big Bash League ratings are best for games that follow a Test. Off the back of its Test coverage earlier in the day, Seven recorded its highest rating Big Bash League game since 2018 for the clash between Sydney Sixers and Melbourne Stars on the evening of Boxing Day.

After the Perth Test finished in two days this masthead reported that Seven was facing an estimated loss of $1 million to $2 million in revenue, plus the need to provide “make goods” to advertisers – free ad spots to make up for spots already paid for. At the time, senior executives with knowledge of Seven’s sales figures said if the remaining Tests finished in two or three days the network could face a hit on summer cricket revenue of 20-30 per cent.

Seven declined to comment, but said in a press release the average national total TV audience was 1.52 million, up 16% on last year’s Boxing Day Test

Apart from the considerable financial loss for the sport, the shortened Test has also cost cricket the priceless opportunity to market the game through the exposure generated by the marquee fixture of the season.

The magnitude of the miss was rammed home on Sunday morning when MCC chief Stuart Fox and head curator Matt Page addressed media to explain why the pitch produced just the 27th two-day Test in the format’s 2615-game and 148-year history. A total of 36 wickets fell in 142 overs, and the game finished in the final session of the second day.

The press conference took place outside the members’ entrance, which would have been jam-packed had there been play on Sunday.

Instead of an expected crowd of 90,000 scanning tickets at the turnstiles, about 1500 to 2000 fans attended a fan zone in the neighbouring Yarra Park where players mingled with fans and signed autographs in a one-hour appearance.

As of Sunday afternoon, the ICC had not released match referee Jeff Crowe’s assessment, but CA is not expecting a favourable finding. The most likely rating is “unsatisfactory”, which, according to ICC guidelines, is given for a pitch that “does not allow an even contest between bat and ball”.

“It wouldn’t surprise me if it doesn’t get a very good marking,” Greenberg said on Sunday. “That’s my early intelligence.”

An unsatisfactory rating carries with it one demerit point but, with six needed over a rolling five-year period for the MCG to be suspended from international cricket, the real cost of such a penalty would be the reputation damage.

Despite the serious ramifications for cricket and the famous venue, Fox publicly backed Page, who had played the chief role in turning an MCG pitch which had become a graveyard for bowlers into arguably the best Test strip in the country before this week’s turbocharged match.

At the start of the summer, the MCG was the only Australian venue to have received the top rating from the ICC in the previous three seasons.

“We brought Matt on eight years ago because he’s considered one of the best in the country, if not the best,” Fox said. “I still believe that and I always will.

“He’s done a great job. Him and his team work tirelessly to get this right. You can see he’s disappointed. He carries that responsibility. My job as a leader is to support people. When you believe in your people, you get behind them and support them. I know he’ll respond and the team will.”

Fox and a forlorn-looking Page both conceded the pitch had not allowed for an even contest between bat and ball.

Page defended his team’s decision to leave 10 millimetres of grass on the pitch. He had shaved the pitch down to seven millimetres last year when Australia defeated India in the final session of day five, but the cooler and wetter weather leading into this game combined with forecast for heat on days three and four meant he needed a different approach.

“We don’t get inconsistent bounce, we don’t get deterioration in our pitches and we’re trying to balance that contest between bat and ball throughout four or five days to provide that captivating Test for all,” Page said.

“For us, we left it longer because we knew we were going to get weather at the back end that we knew where we needed our grass at.

“You look back at it and go it’s favoured the bowlers too much days one and two. If that doesn’t happen we set ourselves up really good for days three and four.”

Page said he was in a “state of shock” after 20 wickets fell on Boxing Day.

“I’ve never been involved in a Test match like it and hopefully never involved in a Test match like that again,” Page said. “It was a roller coaster ride for two days to see everything unfold.”

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