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Message: <blockquote data-quote="kudos_utopia" data-source="post: 5673708" data-attributes="member: 90660">English cricket would suffer financially if Ashes returned to TV's list of 'Crown Jewels'     *       East and west must come together That extra reach can have an effect. A month after England's 2005 heroics I was in Norfolk and saw children playing cricket after school instead of football (it was October). The incredible narrative of that series was undoubtedly the catalyst for such unseasonal enthusiasm but those kids might never have been touched so directly had the series been on pay-TV, as now. It was 11 years ago that Lord MacLaurin, then chairman of the England and Wales Cricket Board, paved the way for the current situation by persuading Tony Blair's government to remove Test cricket from the A-list of sporting events like the Grand National and the FA Cup – the so-called 'Crown Jewels' – that had to remain on terrestrial TV. Now, a review, led by David Davies, is looking at whether the Ashes, though not all Test cricket, possesses enough "special national resonance" to be returned to the A-list and free-to-air television. There are important consequences to consider. The ECB's latest deal with Sky is worth £300 million over the next four years but any move to put the Ashes back to terrestrial TV, something the Government has the power to make compulsory, would decimate that value. More cricket would have to be offered to bidders just to limit the shortfall, leading to an even greater saturation of the fixture list than prevails now. With a fifth of the ECB's revenues going toward developing the grass roots and recreational side of the game (the most of any British sport), it isn't difficult to see which aspect would suffer most in the pursuit of larger TV audiences. Reaching new viewers is a laudable ideal but not if it depletes the section in which most would begin their journey. According to one ECB insider, the drop in revenues would be ruinous, with hundreds of people and projects in that sector being made redundant. County cricket would also be affected with playing staffs being cut back. Even the England players could suffer a reduction in salary, making them prey to parasitic Twenty20 competitions that are certain to have multiplied like pond life by the time the next TV rights come up for sale in 2012. Excellence costs money and England currently boast an Ashes-winning men's team and the best women's team on the globe. Returning the Ashes to terrestrial TV might improve the wellbeing of the country, providing England are winning, but not the game that spawned them. </blockquote>

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