Sussex have been placed in special measures by the England and Wales Cricket Board due to alleged financial mismanagement and breaches of the governing body’s sustainability regulations.
The Guardian has learned that the county is in the process of signing up to an ECB business plan, which will include strict limits on their spending, with any significant outgoings such as player signings or registrations requiring approval from Lord’s. The ECB will also monitor Sussex’s financial returns, and observe board and committee meetings.
ECB officials are understood to have visited Sussex last Thursday for discussions over the finer details of the business plan, with dialogue ongoing. The club could face further disciplinary action, including a significant fine and possible points deduction in this season’s County Championship, if they are also found to have breached the ECB’s county partnership agreement, which governs the allocation of central funding to the 18 first-class counties.
In a statement provided to the Guardian, Sussex said: “At this stage, the club will not be making any comment. We ask our members and supporters for patience while we work through an ongoing process. We are confident that we will find a constructive solution and a positive way forward for the club.
“At this stage we are unable to comment further, but will provide a further update when we are in a position to do so.”
Sussex are understood to have been one of five counties in the red zone of the ECB’s ’red, amber, green’ sustainability ratings that assess each club’s financial position last season, and their problems have worsened since. In their most recently published accounts for 2024, the county recorded an operating loss of £297,000, but their losses for last year are understood to have been far greater.
In another indication of instability at the club, the chief executive, Pete Fitzboydon, resigned for undisclosed reasons last summer and has yet to be replaced, although Mark West was appointed on an interim basis last October.
Sussex’s financial problems come at a time when first-class counties should be able to look forward to a sustainable future for the first time in a generation after the ECB raised £520m by selling stakes in the eight Hundred franchises to private investors last year.
The ECB is determined that this windfall should not be squandered by counties overspending on players and staff salaries, however, and there is concern at Lord’s that player costs have risen significantly at many counties over the winter.
While the ECB has already distributed tens of millions of pounds from the Hundred windfall to counties who have demonstrated it will be used to pay off historic debt, most notably Yorkshire, they are adamant the capital will not be used to subsidy clubs’ general running costs or wage bills.
Middlesex were the last county placed in special measures by the ECB in September 2023 after they were found to have breached the CPA by using funds allocated for youth and grassroots teams on their professional set-up.
The ECB declined to comment.
