Don’t let an England summer in the Ashes fool you into thinking the balance sheet is in the clear. The ECB has put out word that 2027 is going to be a write-down of sorts, simply because the men won’t be playing India at home. It’s a model driven by who comes to town and when, and the new accounts are proof of it.
India, not the Ashes, underwrites English cricket
You could make a case that the Ashes were once the be-all and end-all of an English summer, both in spirit and in the ledgers. Not any more. The ECB will tell you their revenues ebb and flow with the quality of the opposition. They’ve made no secret of the fact that 2027, with no India in the mix, is where the pain will be felt.
It all comes down to what the market wants. Take the 2025 Test series with India: it was a 2-2 draw that ran the full 25 days and did numbers for the broadcasters and the box office. In hard cash, an India tour is worth more these days than the Ashes can be sure of.
What the latest accounts show
For the year to the end of January 2026, the ECB is up 12.6 million in profit. Turnover is 89.4 million higher than it was last year. Most of that can be put down to the 2025 India men’s Tests, which put a bit of oomph in media rights and ticket sales.
Here are the figures from the report:
– 12.6 million in profit
– 89.4 million more in turnover
– 522.3 million from the offloading of eight Hundred franchises
– 72.8 million added to the war chest
The Hundred windfall cannot mask 2027 risk
Selling off those eight Hundred franchises for 522.3 million and seeing a 72.8 million rise in reserves gives the ECB some leeway. But they are still forecasting a hit in 2027. The point is made without mincing words: a windfall is fine, but India is what puts fuel in the tank.
Put simply, the ECB’s books are only as good as the schedule. Come 2027, with no India to host, you can expect the accounts to go into the red, regardless of the fact that Australia will be over for the Ashes.
The coming summer calendar and why it matters
We’ll see England open with New Zealand in a three-Test affair on 4 June. Then India come in for some white-ball before The Hundred gets under way; Pakistan and Sri Lanka are also in the diary. All the marquee dates get looked at for their broadcast value, but India is in a class of its own.
There’s plenty on the docket for the women as well. The T20 World Cup is in England in June, with T20Is against New Zealand and India on either side of it. And after the World Cup, the India Women will be at Lord’s for a Test. It’s another example of how much pull India has, in any format.
A pattern stretching back a decade
Nothing new here. Back in 2011, India’s visit put 15 million in the till, field or not. The following summer, South Africa came and we were 1 million in the hole. When the ICC reworked the revenue share and India got the bulk of it, the writing was on the wall.
This is just the ECB confirming what we’ve known. 2026 is in the black because of India in 2025; 2027 will be in the red for want of them. There’s no two ways about it: India set the financial tone for English cricket now. The Ashes don’t have the power to alter the forecast.
