Would a General County Cricket Membership work?
Last week I made a decision that would have been unthinkable a couple of years ago. I decided not to attend the four-day Championship game between Northamptonshire and Yorkshire, which begins on Sunday. I had a B&B booking and, without the Covid situation, I am sure I would have attended. However, some things have changed. Obviously Covid: sitting in the ground, in your own little bubble, unable to walk around and chat with friends and with the home supporters. I like to take photographs, and a hundred photographs, all taken from the same angle, can be as tedious as your friends out-of-focus holiday snaps. So the experience of attending a game is less than it used to be, and less than it might be again in the future. Perhaps. Then the cost. I think tickets were 15, so 60 for the whole match. Three nights B&B would have come to 160, and round-trip petrol about 30, in this case. Total 250. Instead, I can sit at home and watch the streaming on YouTube, and thats the decision I made. The unappetising match experience was the crucial factor, combined with the on-line alternative. For other people, the cost arithmetic might be the reason not attendand probably even a reason not to attend a home game. It will be an unpopular decision if they give up on it. I would love to know what people think. I believe it could work, because the main thing they are advertising is themselves. And the game of cricket. One idea I have had for some years now, is that a General County Cricket Membership should be available for a fee perhaps 50% higher than the average single-county membership. You would nominate one County to receive 50% of your fee, and you would be a full member of that Club, with the other half split around the rest, and this would entitle you to attend, and enjoy members facilities, at any game. Therefore, I could attend, say, Sussex v Kent whilst holidaying on the south coast. Of course, I can do that anyway, but the members benefits would be a huge attraction, to me at any rate. David Morton