The T20 ICC World Cup is currently scheduled to be played in Australia in October and November, but the coronavirus outbreak has halted all international cricket for the timebeing.
There has been talk of tours going ahead in the near future but all matches would be played behind closed doors, with no fans permitted, meaning potential revenue will be missed out on.
Australia has managed the COVID-19 pandemic well domestically, with only 7,171 confirmed cases and 103 deaths, but holding an international tournament is a different prospect altogether, with 16 different nations to compete.
Despite that, crowds would likely be unable to attend the event, which is understood to be worth $20m for CA, thus their desire to postpone to a time would revenue could be generated through attendance, such as ticket sales and corporate hospitality.
Postponement is clearly preferred over cancellation, but currently India is scheduled to host another T20 World Cup in 2021, so re-scheduling this year’s event cause a domino effect.
CA chair Earl Eddings wrote to the International Cricket Council (ICC), whose Thursday meeting was abandoned, encouraging postponement, given the myriad financial implications for his organisation along with other international governing bodies.
“Australia has thankfully managed to ‘flatten the (COVID) curve’, meaning there is greater certainty of being able to play in Australia in 2021 (which is key to maintaining member distributions),” Eddings wrote.
“This would give India another year to resolve any COVID-related problems.”
CA chief executive Kevin Roberts said the financial implications of the World Cup not going ahead were significant.
“The T20 World Cup is a big question and that’s a factor of perhaps $20m … we have been hopeful all along that it could be staged in October-November but you would have to say there’s a very high risk about the prospect of that happening,” Roberts said.