The ECB managing director of county cricket Neil Snowball has said that the County game expected to report combined losses in excess of £100 million as soon as the 18 first-class counties publish their accounts by the end of next month.
Snowball further said that the crowd was required in the stands to curb the financial losses. “The larger venues that have more diverse revenue streams have copped it more than others," Snowball said. "The bottom line is we need to get people back, we need to get the crowds back."
According to the ECB, the board is planning to get a 25 percent crowd from May 17 and 50 percent capacity from June 21. The counties are considering all the options like continuing the use of masks and vaccination passports.
"There has been a lot of talk. We have gone from no passports to suddenly now looking at a Covid certification," Snowball said.
Snowball went on to say that the board is ready to take all the measures to get the fans back in the stands.
"If you look at June 21, it is going to be a question of balancing three things. One, if there is going to be some sort of passport or Covid certification, second is testing, third is some sort of social distancing and we have said we will do whatever we are asked to do to make sure we can get the maximum number of people back,” he added.