HUGE PROFITS

King Country Chronicle, Volume XXXI, Issue 4957, 18 February 1937, Page 5

HUGE PROFITS

CRICKET TESTS. WORLD RECORD MAY BE BEATEN. Melbourne, February 10. The world record for Test receipts in one season —£75,325 in 1928-29 seems certain to be broken in the present series. Another £5681 is required in the fifth and last match at Melbourne. Total receipts from the four Tests played so far—£69,645 —are only £707 less than the aggregate receipts for the five Tests of the 1932-33 tour. This is largely due to the world record figures at Melbourne, £29,667, and the new Adelaide record of £17,495. Receipts from the Brisbane Test were £583 lower than on the last tour, and Sydney figures were £2552 lower.

Figures for the four Tests are:— First Test, Brisbane, £10,352; second Test, Sydney, £12,131; third Test, Melbourne, £29,667; fourth Test, Adelaide, £17,495; total, £69,645.

The total receipts from the five Tests of 1924-25 (£65,784) have already been surpassed. Expenses are estimated between £4OOO and £SOOO a match, so that the profits to be divided already exceed £50,000. The profits are shared on the following basis: — Englishmen receive Is (half the outer ground charge) for every person who pays to enter the ground. For the Melbourne Test this was approximately £12,710. Ten per cent, of the net profits go to trustees of the ground—about £2500 at Melbourne. Seventy-five per cent, of the remainder goes to the State Cricket Association, the V.C.A. share of the third Test being nearly £IO,OOO. The remaining 25 per cent, goes to the Board of Control for distribution among the States —three-thirteenths each to Victoria, New South Wales and South Australia, two thirteenths to Queensland and one-thirteenth each to Tasmania and Western Australia.

These profits are the State Associations' principal source of revenue, and enable Sheffield Shield cricket to be conducted each year whether it is profitable or not; In Victoria the Test profits make it possible for the V.C.A. to foster cricket with annual dividends of about £IOO to each district club, and other grants to junior and country cricket bodies.