Cardiff Council Executive is being asked to consider whether it can extend its current loan facility with Glamorgan County Cricket Club which was provided to upgrade its grounds to bring Ashes tests to the capital, boosting the local economy.
GCCC has requested a further £1.056m due to increased costs of the stadium redevelopment but in return will repay the entire loan five years earlier and establish a package of community benefits.
These benefits include coaching sessions by top Glamorgan players to create the stars of the future, free tickets schemes for children attending Glamorgan matches, increasing awareness and participation in cricket, providing classroom opportunities at the Swalec stadium, running annual programmes of cricket pitch maintenance for clubs and ground staff and supporting community events including the Cardiff Mela.
A decision was taken in November 2006 to loan Glamorgan County Cricket Club £4.5m, subject to a number of pre-conditions being met by the club towards increasing the club’s ground to a 17,500-seater venue.
The money enabled GCCC to upgrade their facilities and secure the rights to host a one day international with South Africa in 2008 and the Ashes test in July 2009. The test match alone is estimated to have brought £4.6m to the local economy and was viewed by TV audiences across the globe.
The club has also hosted four one day internationals on top of the Ashes test and has secured three further tests matches up to 2014 plus six one-day internationals. Further test matches and a one day international are also in the pipeline.
It is estimated that the benefit of up to 18 proposed international cricket matches taking place in Cardiff over a 20 year period from 2007-2027 could boost the economy by £45m further contributing to the Welsh capital’s reputation as a city of sporting excellence.
The Council’s original support for the club related to the infrastructure costs of the stadium redevelopment which was estimated at £9.241m but this rose to £11.3m due in part to new criteria for test match venues being required by the English Cricket Board.
The Executive is being asked to consider whether, subject to the Council’s budget setting process and a number of pre-conditions, they can approve a further advance as part of a consolidation of the existing loan and a deferment of repayments to be secured by a second mortgage and repaid in full by 2023 – five years earlier than had previously been agreed.
The Executive is also being asked to advance the next stage payment of a grant to support cricket in the community of £0.1m.
Council Leader Rodney Berman said, “Cardiff has a strong sporting tradition and the local economy benefits greatly from the many fixtures which take place in the capital each year.
“Hosting the Ashes test was a great success for Cardiff and gave us a global platform, once again putting us centre stage in the sporting world and we were pleased to be able to help GCCC bring this worldwide event to the Welsh capital.
“We have also been instrumental in working with sporting clubs to modernise and improve sporting facilities across the city over the last decade and this has resulted in significant community facilities being developed.
“It is these community developments that are particularly important to the Council, which is why I have personally been clear with GCCC that tangible community benefits need to form a major part of any partnership with sporting organisations within the city. I am therefore pleased to note that following on from discussions I had with GCCC, they are proposing a package of social benefits as part of their request to increase their current loan facility. It is worth noting that if the Council was to procure these benefits itself, it has been estimated that they would cost around £900,000. I am also reassured by the Club’s proposed commitment to repay the consolidated loan five years earlier than had previously been agreed.”
