Colin Graves, chairman-elect of the England & Wales Cricket Board, has suggested the governing body will struggle to accommodate calls for more cricket on free-to-air television in the UK.
UK pay-television broadcaster Sky last week agreed a two-year extension to its partnership with the ECB. The new contract extends the partnership through to 2019 and covers exclusive live rights to England’s home fixtures, county matches, women's and age grade cricket.
Sky will provide at least 60 days of domestic cricket each summer covering each of the major competitions and featuring every county. The ECB has recently been lobbied by counties seeking a free-to-air platform in a bid to develop a new audience for the domestic game and address falling match attendances.
Graves currently serves as chairman of Yorkshire and his own chief executive at the county club, Mark Arthur, this month joined a growing band of county officials who believe the sport needs to return some content to terrestrial television.
However, Graves told UK newspaper the Telegraph: “Everybody is right and it would be nice to have some cricket on terrestrial television but the problem we have got is terrestrial television does not want cricket, it certainly does not want Test cricket.
“I would love to get cricket on terrestrial television in one format or another but at the same time I want to work with Sky. They have been fantastic for cricket. We have to get best of all worlds but if you have terrestrial broadcasters that don’t want cricket then what can you do?”
At a meeting held this week, Graves was formally proposed as the new ECB chairman, with potential opponents having until the end of January to be nominated. Graves told the meeting that he wanted a more “transparent” ECB and pledged to generate more money for county teams. He is expected to run unopposed and will serve a five-year term, succeeding Giles Clarke, who is poised to fill the new post of ECB president.