Cricket: Council business deal 'only model we could embrace'

Mike Coggan.
Mike Coggan.
There is a new cricket business in town and it is the Dunedin City Council.

New Zealand Cricket yesterday announced its home international schedule for the next two summers and Dunedin's University Oval was one of the winners.

It will host a test between the Black Caps and South Africa in March and also two ODIs in 2018.

For a venue that appeared to be slipping down the batting order, it is significant turnaround.

The DCC can take a lot of the credit.

It got involved in the bidding process through its company, Dunedin Venues Management Limited (DVML), which collaborated with the Otago Cricket Association (OCA) to help secure the fixtures.

OCA chief executive Mike Coggan believes the association "would have failed miserably'' had it gone it alone.

"I hold my hat out to Terry Davies [DVML chief executive] and DVML because they've gone beyond what was expected to actually successfully bid for what we've done.

"They have played a key role and without them involved we wouldn't have seen the likes of England and South Africa come here.''

But with the council-owned company now delivering international cricket, where does that leave the OCA?

Coggan rejected suggestions the association had been cut out by the new business model charged with delivering international cricket for the city.

"As far as I'm concerned, it is the only model we could embrace to ultimately have bid and won games for this next two seasons of international cricket,'' Coggan said.

"We haven't been cut out. As long as the relationship between the sport and the council is strong, and this council is very supportive of cricket, then I think the model will be a much stronger one.

"It is probably the model that is going to be in place around all of New Zealand.''

The OCA will still have opportunities to generate revenue from hosting international matches but Coggan admitted some of the finer details still needed to be worked through with DVML and NZC.

Any potential loss of revenue would be costly but Coggan said the recent restructure at Otago cricket, in which two long-term staff members lost their jobs, was unrelated.

However, he acknowledged the $100,000 the OCA was pouring into the $750,000 upgrade of the embankments at the University Oval, in order to meet NZC minimum standards for hosting internationals, had placed a strain on balance sheet.

It has helped bring the budget into sharp focus.

"If we continued to run our business along the lines we have for the last few years, I don't have any qualms in saying that we would have probably been technically insolvent in another 12 to 18 months.

"We just couldn't continue with the model that held us in good stead for the last decade, given the changes in government funding and funding through NZC and the loss of the Champions League.''

NZC chief operating officer Anthony Crummy believes Otago cricket fans will be better served by the new structure and can expect better-quality cricket matches in better time slots.

"I think it is a unique approach ... and that partnership approach is really important to us and we've been delighted with how people have gone about it.''

Crummy declined to answer questions about how the revenue will be divided, citing commercial sensitivity.

"But there is a raft of revenue streams that are out there, but all that remains confidential,'' he said.

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