Qatar World Cup To Impact England & Wales Cricket Board's Media Rights

Football's "hugely controversial" 2022 Qatar World Cup is "likely to have a considerable impact" on the England & Wales Cricket Board's media rights, according to Charles Sale of the London DAILY MAIL. The cricket governing body put all its packages for the five years starting in '20 out to tender. Three of those summers "could have Premier League football competing with cricket for much longer than usual." That is because the Premier League is having to restructure its '22-23 fixture list, "starting the season earlier and ending it later" to accommodate the Qatar World Cup in Dec. '22. The ECB has experience with other sports "impacting" its revenues. High maintenance Test sponsor npower wanted a reduced deal in '12 because of the London Olympics. Meanwhile, rather than current ECB TV deals being worth less than £300M ($389M), as has been widely reported, the ruling body received £440M ($570M) over six years, which it now wants to double (DAILY MAIL, 5/16).