7:30am Monday 2nd August 2010
By Michael Reeves
WITH all the struggles on the pitch at Worcestershire, you may think that ground development would be the last thing on the minds of the powers-that-be at New Road.
In the midst of a global recession, money tight and cuts everywhere, building a 120-room hotel doesn’t seem to be ideal.
Yet, with player salaries increasing year-on-year and with less income coming into the New Road coffers, they have to find a way to boost the bank account.
Many members will say ‘cricket first, development last’, but we no longer live in that world. Without extra business, there can be no extra money for cricket.
Some would argue that without the cricket there would be no business, true, but it is a catch 22 situation — without any business there would be no cricket.
So with phase one — the Graeme Hick Pavilion — complete, the County are now gearing up to begin phase two: the New Road hotel.
Planning permission has been approved, Premier Inn are on board to lease the hotel, but there is just one thing missing — the finances.
New Road chief executive Mark Newton is hopeful that over the coming months a partner will be on board to get the project off the ground this winter, but he still errs on the side of caution given the current economic climate.
“You can be very close and then suddenly it falls apart,” he said. “At the moment we are still well on the way and it is possible that work could start this winter.
“But until a contract is signed and the money is in place we can’t begin work.”
The original plan for the hotel was for it help begin phase three of the redevelopment of the ground.
That plan is on hold, but how long for is anyone’s guess.
The money that the club can make from the hotel will help put the County on a more secure footing financially.
Then, the more money they make, the more they can reinvest on trying to bring back the glory years. But it is a long, hard struggle.
Newton says the County have had interest from numerous parties about coming on board to help develop the hotel, but only half-a-dozen or so have shown any serious interest.
The chief executive is hopeful that contracts will soon be signed and work can begin.
“We have had no end of interest,” he said. “It is a prime development, on a prime site to deliver to Worcester what it desperately needs — a quality hotel, on a lovely location, on a site that is in the city centre and needs to be smartened up.
“We need to make a statement that when you come over the Severn Bridge you are arriving at Worcestershire County Cricket Club.
“At the moment it is a half-derelict site and that is ludicrous.”
Just last week there were stories about how Test grounds around the country were in financial dire straits, so if the big boys are struggling just how do counties like Worcestershire expect to survive?
“We have to make this piece of land work every day of the year if we are to get back to the level of playing performances everyone wants at this beautiful cricket ground,” Newton added.
“Since the Graeme Hick Pavilion opened it has been really well used and it is doing everything that is expected from it.
“If you add a hotel to that then you have the wonderful chemistry of someone providing accommodation for conferences on a city centre site which Worcester hasn’t got.
“What I am certain of is that if we can get that chemistry working, then the finances of the club will be vastly improved in a very short space of time.”
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