2024 ANNUAL REPORT

NOTTINGHAMSHIRE COUNTY CRICKET CLUB 2024 ANNUAL REPORT & ACCOUNTS 60 althoughTrent Bridge would not host a game in 2024, this was not the end of our relationship with women’s international cricket.We would host at least four women’s white-ball internationals over the next eight years. Without question or hesitation, the Chief Executive continued, we believed that a venue of our stand- ing should be home to elite men’s and women’s teams – both domestic and international.This would drive much of our strategic decision- making in the years ahead. Developing the women’s game would need strong commitment, as we nurtured players and support staff and a new supporter base.We would be required to broaden our appeal and meet challenging facility requirements for playing and watch- ing in order to sustain growth. The Chief Executive said that it should be acknowledged that the women’s game did not yet generate a commercial return in the same way as men’s cricket did – why would it at this stage of its profes- sionalisation? Therefore, investment would be required in the short to medium term to allow it to reach its potential. However, women’s sport in all areas had experienced significant growth and audience interest in the last five years, and it had been predicted that women’s elite sport would gen- erate revenue over a billion dollars in 2024. Giving the same opportunities to our women and girls in the years ahead as we do to our men and boys was the right thing to do.Those mem- bers who might disagree with that sentiment could content themselves with the fact it might also be the sensible thing to do, with the stark reality of a year without Men’s Test cricket showing in our financial result for 2023, demonstrating our reliance on staging that format of cricket. But although it may pain us to say so, Ms Pursehouse said, we were already seeing declining interest in Men’s Test cricket around the world, even from the game’s tradi- tional superpowers. Fewer than 18,000 people attended the most popular day of Australia Men’s Test against Pakistan in Perth, in a venue which holds over 60,000.Yet almost 29,000 attended that venue a few days later for Perth Scorchers’ first home T20 game of the Big Bash season. While it had provided a richly- deserved opportunity for our own Dane Paterson, South Africa’s selection of an inexperienced side for their Test series in New Zealand showed the change in global priorities. Interest and attendances were still strong in England – withTrent Bridge’s upcoming Test in summer 2024 no exception – but if Test cricket declined in relevance globally, England might simply run out of quality opponents to play. It was against that backdrop, along with an ever-expanding range of global domestic tournaments, that we needed to be open to exploring all possibilities and be willing to diversify our commercial and audi- ence model. The advent of The Hundred had played a key role in these endeav- ours. Last summer, one in five of those attending Trent Rockets’ matches at Trent Bridge were under 16, one in three were female, and almost half were under 45. And even in the competition’s third year, four in ten ticket purchasers had never been toTrent Bridge before. The Hundred had also played a vital role in generating revenue for the whole game.Yet, as recent developments at some First-Class Counties had exposed, there could be no escaping the fact that cricket, at all levels, needed more money to achieve its aims. At Nottinghamshire, while we had prided ourselves on fiscal responsi- bility and traditionally low levels of debt, we needed additional revenue too – to help fund facilities devel- opment, invest in our customer experience and to allow us to deal with ever-increasing cost bases whilst ensuring player salaries kept our best domestic and international players in our competitions. It was understandable, possibly inevitable, therefore, that the game was exploring avenues through whichThe Hundred could help to place cricket in this country on a firmer financial footing. With the amount of newsprint they were occupying, debates around the future of The Hundred were doing nothing for our game’s sustainability ambitions, the Chief Executive said. She was sure members would have read and heard many conflicting arguments and theories as to the competition’s next steps. While the Chief Executive and Chair had attended meetings in relation to the tournament’s future in recent months, the truth was there was not yet a clear or agreed proposal that the game could share for wider consultation. It was a hugely complex process, so it was vital that we took some time to understand exactly how this could work and what the pros and cons of any proposals were.This would, of course, all be shared with members in due course. As members gathered at the AGM, contemplating the myriad of chal- lenges that cricket faces both glob- ally and domestically, all could be forgiven for feeling a little anxious about the road ahead. It was one in which we must fund the facilities development required to retain and grow audiences and ensure Trent Bridge remains a Test Match venue for men and women.We must find the balance in scheduling that enables players and supporters to choose and enjoy their cricket.That meant finding space for a men’s three-format county structure, a growing women’s professional game, a multi-format international schedule andThe Hundred – a tournament that pro- vided double headers to showcase the best male and female talent side by side. Despite those challenges the English cricketing landscape was