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In the UK you have a plethora of laws about what you can do with certain buildings because they are deemed vital to the community and then heritage listed. I really feel like the simple and totally justifiable way for the community to regain some control over their local sporting clubs is to have some kind of heritage listing for them too, where the Govt can step in and prevent x or y being done by the owners the same way they can with old buildings
There was a government protection to ensure key England cricket games were shown to free-to-air TV. The ECB fought very hard for very long to get rid of it in 2005 so they could get more money from Sky. Twenty years later they are still choosing the money over the sport. It will never be enough
I honestly don’t see how a building from the 1920s can be classified as holding heritage value for the community that entitles the Govt to place restrictions on what can be done with the asset by the owner but a football club or county cricket team isn’t deemed worthy of similar protection on community and heritage grounds
However, you hit on what is probably the key point, the very people who should be fighting for some kind of restriction on what can be done with the clubs, namely the governing bodies of the sports themselves are in fact doing the opposite
You would hope the threat of the Super League for football and threats from the IPL for county cricket would wake up the administrators to the real threat but alas it seems they’re blinded by the money and what the individuals who make up these organisations can do to personally cash in
This is their dual role as the regulator and commercialiser of the sport. Hence they can create a new event and re-organise the whole of English cricket, including Ashes Tests, to suit it. This should be separate.
It is the nub of Euro Super League's legal case against UEFA too.
In the UK you have a plethora of laws about what you can do with certain buildings because they are deemed vital to the community and then heritage listed. I really feel like the simple and totally justifiable way for the community to regain some control over their local sporting clubs is to have some kind of heritage listing for them too, where the Govt can step in and prevent x or y being done by the owners the same way they can with old buildings
Grade Two-listed counties!
There was a government protection to ensure key England cricket games were shown to free-to-air TV. The ECB fought very hard for very long to get rid of it in 2005 so they could get more money from Sky. Twenty years later they are still choosing the money over the sport. It will never be enough
I honestly don’t see how a building from the 1920s can be classified as holding heritage value for the community that entitles the Govt to place restrictions on what can be done with the asset by the owner but a football club or county cricket team isn’t deemed worthy of similar protection on community and heritage grounds
However, you hit on what is probably the key point, the very people who should be fighting for some kind of restriction on what can be done with the clubs, namely the governing bodies of the sports themselves are in fact doing the opposite
You would hope the threat of the Super League for football and threats from the IPL for county cricket would wake up the administrators to the real threat but alas it seems they’re blinded by the money and what the individuals who make up these organisations can do to personally cash in
This is their dual role as the regulator and commercialiser of the sport. Hence they can create a new event and re-organise the whole of English cricket, including Ashes Tests, to suit it. This should be separate.
It is the nub of Euro Super League's legal case against UEFA too.