Following the news that Sky Sports is closing in on a renewed broadcast deal with the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB);

Patrick Kinch, Sport Analyst at GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company, offers his view:

“While its domestic broadcast contract with Sky Sports* is already comfortably the biggest media rights deal held by the ECB, the positive reception around The Hundred tournament will give the governing body more leeway in the floor price of its rights during talks with Sky.

“GlobalData expects that ECB could manage a rights renegotiation to more than $300 million a year. The Hundred provided great exposure for women’s cricket across the country, with fixtures breaking attendance records for English domestic club games and TV viewing figures for English women’s cricket.

“Further, ECB can offer Sky Sports a packed summer schedule, with seven Test matches, including the postponed fifth Test against India; visits from South Africa and World Test Champions New Zealand teams; nine white ball fixtures against India and South Africa; and the second edition of The Hundred and the T20 Blast.”

* The deal, reportedly worth $251 million a year between 2020 and 2024, covers all of England’s home Test matches, One Day Internationals and T20s, plus domestic T20 competitions and The Hundred, launched in 2021.