New Zealand Board to Cut Jobs amid 'Challenging' Conditions Due to Covid-19

[Savak]

New Zealand Board to Cut Jobs amid 'Challenging' Conditions Due to Covid-19

Players and staff for the national men's Black Caps and women's White Ferns teams would not be affected by the cost-cutting measures.

Reuters |May 27, 2020, 5:28 PM IST

New Zealand Cricket will cut up to 15% of staff and look to shave NZ$6 million ($3.72 million) in operating costs as part of proposals to cope with "challenging" conditions brought on by the coronavirus outbreak, Chief Executive David White has said.

White told New Zealand media he had informed NZC's 80 staff on Wednesday about the planned cuts, which would allow the board to maintain funding levels at provincial and district levels, and avoid shrinking the domestic schedule.

"We have our priorities for the year which we’re not compromising and we’re investing in those," he told Stuff Media.

"The cuts are coming from NZC, NZ$6 million, of which NZ$1.5 million is staff."

Players and staff for the national men's Black Caps and women's White Ferns teams would not be affected by the cost-cutting measures. Players' annual retainers would remain as forecast for the coming season, White said.

New Zealand authorities have begun easing social restrictions in recent weeks with COVID-19 cases slowing to a trickle, and sports have been given the green light to restart domestic competitions.

But NZC anticipates a "significant reduction" in revenue in the current financial year, with travel curbs and border controls throwing the international schedule into doubt.

"What we are experiencing is what I imagine most businesses in New Zealand are experiencing at the moment," White said.

"It’s a really challenging situation and we’ve just got to work through it the best we can to ensure NZ Cricket remains strong and viable, and all our members do as well."

NZC's proposed cuts come in the wake of several rounds of job losses in Australian cricket in recent weeks.

Queensland's state association said on Monday it had cut nearly 30% of its workforce following announcements of staff cuts in Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania.

Link: https://www.news18.com/cricketnext/...nging-conditions-due-to-covid-19-2640085.html

 

[MMHS]

Just the beginning - CV stuck world severely sometimes around February- March; most of it’s initial blows punched on BCCI & now ECB; financially strongest two boards. Had it started 3-4 months earlier, by now most boards would have been bankrupt.

 

[U$ofA]

The problem is the NZC cannot place a call to the BCCI offices since an India tour just got done. The other boards are ahead in line at the BCCI offices, with CA being right up front.

 

[anonymous_guy]

Contrasting times, PCB is hiring people at managerial posts whereas other boards are looking for laying off employees.

Will the PCB backtrack or are they financially strong enough to pull the deal through?

 

[Rana]

How about Jacinda Arden worlds greatest ever leader come to the aid?

 

[liam26]

Organize a Series against India to improve your finances again.

 

[Savak]

Contrasting times, PCB is hiring people at managerial posts whereas other boards are looking for laying off employees.

Will the PCB backtrack or are they financially strong enough to pull the deal through?

PCB is number 4 on the ICC revenue distribution table after India, Australia and England. That should mean something

 

[HappyWarsFan]

Pakistan should help NZ out. Offer to tour them later this year. Would love to see that, matches in NZ are always fun.

 

[Savak]

Cricket is not a very lucrative sport in NZ at all, cricketers get paid very poorly there and getting into the IPL is a lottery for these guys. Adam Parore now runs a book keeping, accounting practice. Mathew Sinclair struggled badly in NZ and had to sign up for unemployment insurance in retirement. Chris Cairns when he got fired from commentary had to get a job driving buses and cleaning bus shelters i.e minimum wage jobs, he inherited his dad's business but it went bankrupt.

 

[Abdullah719]

Pakistan should help NZ out. Offer to tour them later this year. Would love to see that, matches in NZ are always fun.

Pakistan is already scheduled to tour NZ toward the end of 2020. For 2 Tests (WTC) and 3 T20Is.

 

[U$ofA]

Organize a Series against India to improve your finances again.

As I said earlier, this is not an immediate option. They just had a series with India and other boards are already in line ahead of NZC at the BCCI offices.

 

[Savak]

Pakistan is already scheduled to tour NZ toward the end of 2020. For 2 Tests (WTC) and 3 T20Is.

Came across reports that NZ Cricket Board wants to replace the series with a tour by Australia as that is more lucrative for them?

 

[Savak]

As I said earlier, this is not an immediate option. They just had a series with India and other boards are already in line ahead of NZC at the BCCI offices.

Shouldn't they have made good money from that Indian series especially considering it took place so recently? Why are they in financial trouble now?

 

[anonymous_guy]

PCB is number 4 on the ICC revenue distribution table after India, Australia and England. That should mean something

The second and third on your list are struggling to get their finances going for the season yet the fourth one is on a hiring spree, this is going to be very interesting as to how PCB will manage its finance and pay their employees on time? All the best to PCB if they can pull this off, without messing it up.

 

[aloo paratha]

Came across reports that NZ Cricket Board wants to replace the series with a tour by Australia as that is more lucrative for them?

The test series is a part it the championship. They can't just replace it.

 

[U$ofA]

Shouldn't they have made good money from that Indian series especially considering it took place so recently? Why are they in financial trouble now?

Good question. Not sure where all that money went. I am sure that an India tour is among the top revenue streams for NZC. What did they do with the recent India tour revenue?

 

[Hasan123]

[MENTION=79064]MMHS[/MENTION] is right. If the big 3 are affected, I think the other cricket boards will have issues.

 

[Savak]

[MENTION=79064]MMHS[/MENTION] is right. If the big 3 are affected, I think the other cricket boards will have issues.

It depends on whether the boards are living within their means. Its very easy for boards to carelessly overspend beyond their means if they expect future inflows to come in. No one could have predicted this global epidemic.

Tbh the PCB has been forced to live and spend within their means because of the lack of international cricket and sponsorships it has had to suffer from the last 10 years. This is actually a big blessing in disguise for them which should help them stay afloat at a time like this. In the podcast interview, Ehsan Mani said that the PCB plans to spend Rs 6 billion on uplifting the grounds, stadiums in the country will now be put on hold and will instead be used for operating expenses of the board during this crisis.

It appears the rest of the boards did not bother to save for a rainy day unlike the PCB.

 

[shah_1]

Contrasting times, PCB is hiring people at managerial posts whereas other boards are looking for laying off employees.

Will the PCB backtrack or are they financially strong enough to pull the deal through?

PCB had saved some money for cricket infrastructure development(ground upgrades) that will be on hold so yeah we are effected by this.

 

[Rana]

PCB had saved some money for cricket infrastructure development(ground upgrades) that will be on hold so yeah we are effected by this.

We will recover a lot from PSL also, and we did well to get most of PSL in this year

 

[Savak]

PCB had saved some money for cricket infrastructure development(ground upgrades) that will be on hold so yeah we are effected by this.

effected has different meanings? Yes we will have to delay upgrading our stadiums for sure. But atleast the board is not out there begging for a handout unlike Australia, England, New Zealand i.e. boards who have enjoyed international cricket at home and should have had the bank balances to withstand the shocks of this epidemic. The fact that they haven't been able too needs an investigation and what should been examined as to how a board like the PCB with no international cricket in its own country for the last ten years, which had been paying significantly out of pocket for the last ten years has been able to so far withstand the impact of this epidemic but boards like Cricket Australia, ECB, New Zealand who have enjoyed maximum international cricket at home have struggled within months of this epidemic.

 

[HitWicket]

effected has different meanings? Yes we will have to delay upgrading our stadiums for sure. But atleast the board is not out there begging for a handout unlike Australia, England, New Zealand i.e. boards who have enjoyed international cricket at home and should have had the bank balances to withstand the shocks of this epidemic. The fact that they haven't been able too needs an investigation and what should been examined as to how a board like the PCB with no international cricket in its own country for the last ten years, which had been paying significantly out of pocket for the last ten years has been able to so far withstand the impact of this epidemic but boards like Cricket Australia, ECB, New Zealand who have enjoyed maximum international cricket at home have struggled within months of this epidemic.

Where's the indication that the ECB are struggling?

 

[MMHS]

[MENTION=79064]MMHS[/MENTION] is right. If the big 3 are affected, I think the other cricket boards will have issues.

I think, for a particular reason, PCB could be in a better position than most - drastic fall of exchange rate of PKR. This is something one of our former Finance Minister explained - why falling dollar price is not always bad for everyone. For an economy heavily dependent on remittance, a devaluing local currency actually benefits the people who are being sent money from outside country - simple words, they get richer for the same amount of dollar/euro sent from abroad. On contrary, few like us who are basically laundering money from home buying greenbacks from open market, paying around BDT 89/Dollar, though official bank rate is less than 85

PCB's lion share of revenue comes from ICC revenue share, media rights and foreign sponsorship, mostly coming in US Dollars, which will be converted in PKR, when it comes to PCB's expenses (mostly). This might not be a good scenario for an economy at macro level, particularly countries with heavily skewed balance of payment towards import, but at micro level PCB should be one of the most benefited Pakistani institution for the drastic fall of PKR in last 2 years. On contrary, probably the highest affected organization could be PAK Armed Forces - for their dependency on imported fuel and hard ware. This should give PCB a much stronger spending power, at least for few years. Even if the gross revenue reduces a bit, the conversion of PKR should give plenty more in terms of local currency compared to couple of years back - and 2019 being WC year, PCB should get a significant amount from ICC, which is added bonus.

If you look at recent PCB's hirings, all the incumbents are PAK local - they are likely to be paid in PKR, which means less burden on PCB's earned dollars. Similarly, take players' payment - PKR 700K per Test is now around $4,500, even PKR 500K/Test was more than that dollar amount couple of years back. Similarly, on papers, Misbah's salary might be equal to Arthur, but if it's paid in PKR, advantage will be with PCB - even if wage is in US dollars, cost to company (wage + benefits & allocations) for current Head Coach should be lower than foreign one. Recently, PCB has announced the central contracts - it's probably at per with last few years in terms of dollar value, but players won't be unhappy for sure for a reason. Had PCB's majority earning been coming from domestic sources, it (falling PKR price) could have been disastrous for their operation.

Of all the boards, my hunch is most affected one is BCB - I am afraid, which will have a long-term negative impact on every cricket indexes of BD. From BCB's Consultants to coaching staffs for national, academy, junior, even FC level; other support staffs, physios, analysts ... even curators & groundsmen - there are many foreigners under BCB's payroll in US Dollars (& they don't pay tax for first three years!!!!!) - if this continues for few more months, BCB simply won't be able to manage that pay cheque. Also, after UK, BCB is going to be the first board to be hit hard - Australia & NZ were scheduled to tour between June to September

What I can see is, this CV19 only has increased the power of Big 3 eventually - they'll be able to manipulate everything in Cricket and they'll get the required votes as well


[MENTION=139327]anonymous_guy[/MENTION]: Does this explain?

 

[Savak]

Where's the indication that the ECB are struggling?

Them facing a 380 million pound loss, talks of paycuts, job cuts at the ECB and counties, revenue distribution to the counties in the face of the epidemic, desperation to get teams to come to England at the height of the Covid 19 crisis.

 

[Savak]

I think, for a particular reason, PCB could be in a better position than most - drastic fall of exchange rate of PKR. This is something one of our former Finance Minister explained - why falling dollar price is not always bad for everyone. For an economy heavily dependent on remittance, a devaluing local currency actually benefits the people who are being sent money from outside country - simple words, they get richer for the same amount of dollar/euro sent from abroad. On contrary, few like us who are basically laundering money from home buying greenbacks from open market, paying around BDT 89/Dollar, though official bank rate is less than 85

PCB's lion share of revenue comes from ICC revenue share, media rights and foreign sponsorship, mostly coming in US Dollars, which will be converted in PKR, when it comes to PCB's expenses (mostly). This might not be a good scenario for an economy at macro level, particularly countries with heavily skewed balance of payment towards import, but at micro level PCB should be one of the most benefited Pakistani institution for the drastic fall of PKR in last 2 years. On contrary, probably the highest affected organization could be PAK Armed Forces - for their dependency on imported fuel and hard ware. This should give PCB a much stronger spending power, at least for few years. Even if the gross revenue reduces a bit, the conversion of PKR should give plenty more in terms of local currency compared to couple of years back - and 2019 being WC year, PCB should get a significant amount from ICC, which is added bonus.

If you look at recent PCB's hirings, all the incumbents are PAK local - they are likely to be paid in PKR, which means less burden on PCB's earned dollars. Similarly, take players' payment - PKR 700K per Test is now around $4,500, even PKR 500K/Test was more than that dollar amount couple of years back. Similarly, on papers, Misbah's salary might be equal to Arthur, but if it's paid in PKR, advantage will be with PCB - even if wage is in US dollars, cost to company (wage + benefits & allocations) for current Head Coach should be lower than foreign one. Recently, PCB has announced the central contracts - it's probably at per with last few years in terms of dollar value, but players won't be unhappy for sure for a reason. Had PCB's majority earning been coming from domestic sources, it (falling PKR price) could have been disastrous for their operation.

Of all the boards, my hunch is most affected one is BCB - I am afraid, which will have a long-term negative impact on every cricket indexes of BD. From BCB's Consultants to coaching staffs for national, academy, junior, even FC level; other support staffs, physios, analysts ... even curators & groundsmen - there are many foreigners under BCB's payroll in US Dollars (& they don't pay tax for first three years!!!!!) - if this continues for few more months, BCB simply won't be able to manage that pay cheque. Also, after UK, BCB is going to be the first board to be hit hard - Australia & NZ were scheduled to tour between June to September

What I can see is, this CV19 only has increased the power of Big 3 eventually - they'll be able to manipulate everything in Cricket and they'll get the required votes as well


[MENTION=139327]anonymous_guy[/MENTION]: Does this explain?

Not sure how this increases the power of Australia and England. Australia already has had to lay off employee's and have staff on 20% pay. The players have been told that they can no longer be mollycoddled and that the staff assigned to help them have to be used part time and therefore the players will mostly have to take responsibility for their own things. Cricket Australia is desperately begging for India to come under the assumption that an Indian tour will wipe out their losses but there is no guarantee of that tour even taking place or if even if it does, it will eliminate Cricket Australia's losses

Similarly ECB is facing a loss of 380 million pounds with the loss of the county season and is desperately to have teams touring England, they also have already discussed pay cuts and cut backs in the revenue distribution to the counties.

As far as the BCCI is concerned, we dont even know if the IPL will take place, will the broadcasters bring them back to the negotiating table and tell them "Listen, we need to renegotiate the Broadcast revenues for this year". Too many questions at this stage.

 

[HitWicket]

Them facing a 380 million pound loss,

1) No they're not.
2) Facing a reduction in income isn't a sign of struggling, how you deal with it is in the indicator.

talks of paycuts, job cuts at the ECB and counties, revenue distribution to the counties in the face of the epidemic,

I assume you'll have reliable sources to back all that up.

desperation to get teams to come to England at the height of the Covid 19 crisis.

A business is struggling because it has shown intent to continue trading...? What next, a person is struggling because he has shown intent to continue doing his job and earning money?