Sean Jarvis: CEO Monthly Report - February 2023

My report for February is a fairly brief one as I have managed to get away for a family break for a couple of weeks and just returned to the Uptonsteel County Ground on Monday 27th …..so I have missed the lion’s share of the month. However, despite me being away, the dedicated staff have remained extremely busy and have kept the Club moving in the right direction.

This month I will start with our Company Pillar.

Ground maintenance and developments come under this Pillar and when you return to the ground in April you’ll hopefully see some improvements. There has been a lot going on including the new Woodland Walk, a new staff car park (behind The Meet) which frees up some additional parking for Members, lots of painting (green of course), new changing rooms for home, away and umpires (to meet the ECB CPA standards) and a new area called the Grace Space (but I won’t give too much away at this stage as the Club website will bring information over the next few weeks.)

There are also a few other bits ongoing too including improving the Fox Bar, with more memorabilia and trying to ensure The Upper Meet can act as a bit of a Museum (as well as a café bar and restaurant).

Our HR, Governance and Safeguarding also comes under this Pillar and over the past month it has been no less busy than normal as we have continued to recruit and build a new Commercial team along with some new roles for our Community team. All in all, I do believe we are creating a robust structure that allows us to build for a brighter future.

Speaking of brighter futures, I would like to take this opportunity to remind our Members of the event we are holding on Monday 6th March in the Charles Palmer Suite. In simple, the event will provide our Members with a glimpse into the strategy of the Club over the next few years. There will also be an opportunity to meet all our Pillar leads. This is not one to be missed!

Moving onto our Community Pillar, once again another part of the Club that has been incredibly busy.

I have been informed that training sessions for the Women and Girls’ squads are gong extremely well with some of our girls already being nominated for the EPP. Speaking of the Women and Girls game “ it appears that this is really catching on around our county as many clubs are now setting up offerings. And it’s also great to see the Women’s Indoor League launched and clearly growing too.

I know ‘Coach Development’ is high on our community team’s agenda and they are keen to grow the number of coaches in the game. It was really pleasing to hear that over the past 12 months our team have had 77 qualified coaches, 26 of which were female and 28 were from ethnic diverse communities, which represents a 19% increase for female coaches and 13% increase from the ethnic diverse communities. Brilliant to hear!

It genuinely feels as though cricket is creating a golden era here in Leicestershire. There is still lots to do but it’s certainly moving in the right direction.

As for Commercial, I think the big news was the announcement around Tom Jones coming to the Uptonsteel County Ground. As soon as we announced there was a real buzz in the ticket office and many tickets sold very quickly, including a lot of our hospitality offerings. This is great news for the Club and the city. I for one and really looking forward to seeing him here.

Of course, prior to the season is our big selling period and the new commercial team have and continue to do that, lots of things are selling fast, so if you are considering getting involved with us, I would urge you to do so quickly.

All our hospitality packages have been launched with the highlight of a new sponsors lounge for the season. This will now accommodate three sponsors per fixture in an enhanced experience. So, if you haven’t booked yet…hurry before it sells out!

What I will say is this has been a really encouraging part of the business with new members of the team settling in and it feels we have a new group that is very focussed and really want to ‘raise the bar’ at the Club.

Cricket Pillar wise, there remains lots going on behind the scenes. Training schedules are still intense for our players, and they are responding well.

Congrats to Rehan Ahmed who has once again been called up to represent England, this time for the white ball team in Bangladesh.

I’ve also kept a close eye on some of our players around the world, including Rehan (Gulf Giants); Naveen (Sharjah Warriors); Wiaan (Durban Super Giants); Colin (Syhlet Strikers); Nick (Mashonland Eagles); and well as Sam, Harry, Louis all playing Club cricket in Australia, and Rishi playing in India. I’m sure this preparation will only go to help us in our 2023 campaign.

Finally, it was great catching up with Jigar recently and hearing about the Academy’s recent tour. It’s clear listening to him that it was very successful and helped in the development of our players.

All in all, I do feel that our Cricket Pillar is going from strength to strength. This could be a very special season for us!

As for Communication, the team have been extremely busy too. Over the past month they have had their fair share of exciting news announcements including the deadline signing of Ajinkya Rahane, and the Tom Jones Concert.

Hopefully, you have enjoyed the creativity entailed with how we have delivered the messages and continue to communicate with our supporters. Keep your eyes peeled next week for another creative signing announcement.

You may have also seen the new look Foxes TV. The team have been working hard behind the scenes to build a professional recording studio to house interviews and first ever podcast, Caught In Conversation. The first episode with Paul Nixon is out now on Foxes TV, Spotify and our official App, so check it out!

Finally, our Cash Pillar.

I have said it a million times but every time it’s crucially important. Cash is key for the Club and your support and backing of the Club is our lifeblood. Our first quarter was good, and we saw some impressive numbers from commercial and community. We are now coming to the end of our second quarter (March) and your support whether it be a membership, or a corporate partnership is still critical to us “ every penny counts for Leicestershire CCC.

That’s it for this month. It’s great to be back and the season is not too far away…. Bring it on!

Sean.