The 2025-26 home international season brought in an A$82 million ($57.7 million) surplus for the Cricket Australia (CA) governing body, but multiple years of deficits are now predicted.
Annual revenue in 2025-26 – which saw Australia's men's team host England in a lucrative five-test Ashes series – came to A$601 million, up almost A$150 million from 2024-25.
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This represents the first season in which CA's income has broken the A$600 million barrier, with a limited-overs home series against India also contributing (a tour of any country by India inevitably results in improved financials for the host cricket board).
For 2024-25, there was no surplus, as CA could only record a deficit of A$11.3 million.
The Ashes, which ran from November last year into January 2026 (and which Australia won 4-1), brought in strong ticket sales, broadcast interest, and commercial income.
However, the fact that two of the tests only ran across two days each – five is the allocated number – cost CA at least A$20 million in ticketing refunds.
Todd Greenberg, chief executive at CA, said the overall surplus figure represents "a pretty solid outcome given the fact that we have two two-day test matches, but we've over-achieved in some other areas like non-broadcast revenue, our sponsorship program outperformed, some of our other revenue lines outperformed, so we were able to make up the difference."
Expenses during 2025-26 for CA came to A$246.4 million, while player payments amounted to A$146 million and the funding allocated to the various state associations which make up domestic cricket in the country was A$126.8 million.
The governing body is expecting deficits for the next two home summers at least because of the opposition Australia's men's team will be taking on – instead of tours by India or England, the countries visiting will be New Zealand (2026-27), and both Pakistan and Sri Lanka in 2027-28.
However, the expected sales of stakes in the franchise teams that make up Australian Twenty20 cricket's Big Bash League (BBL) have not been taken into consideration when projecting this deficit.
Indeed, one of the priorities for CA over the next two years, the body has said, will be "cost minimization."
On the subject of the BBL privatization process, CA chair Mike Baird explained: "We want to get to a position where we’re sustainable.
“Part of the Big Bash work is not only looking for the private investment, but we also think that’s going to lead to increased capability, and it’s going to help drive fan experience, and in whole different ways it’s going to grow the Big Bash and the game."
Baird will be stepping down imminently, as was unveiled last month, to be replaced on an interim basis as CA chair by former Australian cricketing icon David Boon.
He is stepping down as the process to sell the Melbourne Renegades BBL team gets underway.
This process, through which the Renegades will become the first BBL team to be sold off to private equity, could be completed by the end of the year.
However, New South Wales have long opposed the move, and as such have made their opposition to Baird continuing to lead CA clear.
In terms of recent CA commercial activity, late September saw the body unveil cricket data and odds specialists Decimal Data as its official exclusive betting data partner.
The arrangement covers marquee cricket events until 2031, including the BBL and women's WBBL, as well as home men's and women's home internationals.
