English county cricket clubs have seen their salary cap slashed by 10 per cent with immediate effect, giving them just three months’ notice before the new season starts. The ECB informed the 18 first-class counties this week that their wages limit — plus cricket-related travel and hotel costs — was being reduced from £2.19million to £1.97m. And the cutback, that will severely limit major counties’ spending power on overseas stars, comes when England’s T20 tournament is suffering so badly in comparison with Australia’s Big Bash and the Indian Premier League. English county cricket clubs will now find it harder to compete with the money of foreign money . ECB say move benefits home-grown talent, of which Yorkshire, bankrolled by Colin Graves, have the most . Surrey, who recruited Graeme Smith, Kevin Pietersen and Ricky Ponting for the 2013 T20 campaign, will be one of the counties worst affected, along with Warwicks and Lancashire. Surrey chief executive Richard Gould said: ‘We are not at all pleased by the cuts or the short notice given. Budgets were set for 2015 last September. It is artificially dampening down investment in cricket and how can we compete with other T20 competitions around the world with these restrictions? At the same time England players’ salaries have gone up and up.’ The ECB say the move is to encourage home-grown talent, of which Yorkshire, bankrolled by ECB chairman elect Colin Graves, have the most. BT Sport Pundit and former Liverpool striker Michael Owen in a bizarre new advert for Spey whisky . Owen signed a three-year deal last June to become a global brand ambassador for Spey . Forget the awfulness of the BT Sport promotion ‘The Cool People To Watch Football With’, topped by the Michael Owen thumbs-up which has inspired Brighton to make their own version. Even worse is Owen’s awkward monotone online advert for Spey Whisky, panned as one of the worst commercials ever. Owen signed a three-year deal last June to become a global brand ambassador for Spey but even BT Sport colleagues are giving him stick. Another sign The Open is heading to Sky is the involvement of agents IMG in negotiations. IMG, who represent the R&A, also produce Sky’s golf coverage in partnership with the European Tour. And The Open, notable for the BBC’s far inferior camera work, is the only major golf event in Europe not brought to screens by European Tour Productions. Another sign The Open is heading to Sky is the involvement of agents IMG in negotiations . The R&A, who receive around £7m a year for the Open rights from the BBC, want a minimum £10m a year. Ideally, they would like to keep the BBC involved in a share agreement for the live contract, but Sky are highly unlikely to pay premium price without exclusivity. Certainly the R&A will want Sky to be host broadcaster. The billboard wars continue after Leicester put up a poster outside Wasps’ new home, Ricoh Arena in Coventry, promoting Tigers’ long history. Wasps fan Edward Marno is seeking £800 using crowd-funding to pay for a billboard in Leicester town centre advertising Wasps ‘bringing exciting rugby to the Midlands since 2014’. Wasps expect another 20,000-plus crowd against Leinster on Saturday. David Gill will face just one opponent in the election for the British vice-presidency seat on FIFA’s ExCo . COAST IS CLEAR FOR GILL . Manchester United director David Gill will face just one opponent in the election for the British vice-presidency seat on FIFA’s ExCo. Scottish FA president Campbell Ogilvie has decided not to stand, leaving a straight choice for the UEFA Congress vote in March between England representative Gill and FA of Wales president Trefor Lloyd Hughes. Gill, who sits on UEFA’s ExCo and is seen by many inside the game as the next FA chairman, is sure to emerge victorious. But Lloyd Hughes feels aggrieved that the other home nations have reneged on a 2011 deal that the BVP role should rotate, with Wales never having had a FIFA ExCo representative. The FA say reforms that have resulted in a full UEFA vote, rather than just the home nations, rule out previous agreements. Marketing agency FutureProof are responsible for the FA’s advertising promotion around the Euro 2016 qualifying games, with ‘Together for England’ featuring split pictures of players and fans, and tag lines such as pride-passion. The same agency have been hired to do something similar by the ECB for the Ashes next summer. Yet it seems odd the ECB are investing in an expensive campaign having just cut county cricket spending as well as rapidly culling staff aged over 50.
ECB have slashed wage limits for county cricket clubs .
The new limit is £1.97m, 10 per cent lower than the previous limit of £2.19 .
The Open Championship looks as though it could be heading to Sky .
Manchester United director David Gill will face just one opponent in the election for the British vice-presidency seat on FIFA’s ExCo .
English county cricket clubs have seen their salary cap slashed by 10 per cent with immediate effect, giving them just three months’ notice before the new season starts. The ECB informed the 18 first-class counties this week that their wages limit — plus cricket-related travel and hotel costs — was being reduced from £2.19million to £1.97m. And the cutback, that will severely limit major counties’ spending power on overseas stars, comes when England’s T20 tournament is suffering so badly in comparison with Australia’s Big Bash and the Indian Premier League. English county cricket clubs will now find it harder to compete with the money of foreign money . ECB say move benefits home-grown talent, of which Yorkshire, bankrolled by Colin Graves, have the most . Surrey, who recruited Graeme Smith, Kevin Pietersen and Ricky Ponting for the 2013 T20 campaign, will be one of the counties worst affected, along with Warwicks and Lancashire. Surrey chief executive Richard Gould said: ‘We are not at all pleased by the cuts or the short notice given. Budgets were set for 2015 last September. It is artificially dampening down investment in cricket and how can we compete with other T20 competitions around the world with these restrictions? At the same time England players’ salaries have gone up and up.’ The ECB say the move is to encourage home-grown talent, of which Yorkshire, bankrolled by ECB chairman elect Colin Graves, have the most. BT Sport Pundit and former Liverpool striker Michael Owen in a bizarre new advert for Spey whisky . Owen signed a three-year deal last June to become a global brand ambassador for Spey . Forget the awfulness of the BT Sport promotion ‘The Cool People To Watch Football With’, topped by the Michael Owen thumbs-up which has inspired Brighton to make their own version. Even worse is Owen’s awkward monotone online advert for Spey Whisky, panned as one of the worst commercials ever. Owen signed a three-year deal last June to become a global brand ambassador for Spey but even BT Sport colleagues are giving him stick. Another sign The Open is heading to Sky is the involvement of agents IMG in negotiations. IMG, who represent the R&A, also produce Sky’s golf coverage in partnership with the European Tour. And The Open, notable for the BBC’s far inferior camera work, is the only major golf event in Europe not brought to screens by European Tour Productions. Another sign The Open is heading to Sky is the involvement of agents IMG in negotiations . The R&A, who receive around £7m a year for the Open rights from the BBC, want a minimum £10m a year. Ideally, they would like to keep the BBC involved in a share agreement for the live contract, but Sky are highly unlikely to pay premium price without exclusivity. Certainly the R&A will want Sky to be host broadcaster. The billboard wars continue after Leicester put up a poster outside Wasps’ new home, Ricoh Arena in Coventry, promoting Tigers’ long history. Wasps fan Edward Marno is seeking £800 using crowd-funding to pay for a billboard in Leicester town centre advertising Wasps ‘bringing exciting rugby to the Midlands since 2014’. Wasps expect another 20,000-plus crowd against Leinster on Saturday. David Gill will face just one opponent in the election for the British vice-presidency seat on FIFA’s ExCo . COAST IS CLEAR FOR GILL . Manchester United director David Gill will face just one opponent in the election for the British vice-presidency seat on FIFA’s ExCo. Scottish FA president Campbell Ogilvie has decided not to stand, leaving a straight choice for the UEFA Congress vote in March between England representative Gill and FA of Wales president Trefor Lloyd Hughes. Gill, who sits on UEFA’s ExCo and is seen by many inside the game as the next FA chairman, is sure to emerge victorious. But Lloyd Hughes feels aggrieved that the other home nations have reneged on a 2011 deal that the BVP role should rotate, with Wales never having had a FIFA ExCo representative. The FA say reforms that have resulted in a full UEFA vote, rather than just the home nations, rule out previous agreements. Marketing agency FutureProof are responsible for the FA’s advertising promotion around the Euro 2016 qualifying games, with ‘Together for England’ featuring split pictures of players and fans, and tag lines such as pride-passion. The same agency have been hired to do something similar by the ECB for the Ashes next summer. Yet it seems odd the ECB are investing in an expensive campaign having just cut county cricket spending as well as rapidly culling staff aged over 50.
English county cricket clubs have seen their salary cap slashed by 10 per cent with immediate Another sign The Open is heading to Sky is the Saturday. David Gill will face just one opponent in the election for the British vice-presidency Manchester United director David Gill will face just one opponent in the election for the British vice-presidency seat on FIFA’s ExCo. Scottish FA