Sean Jarvis: CEO Monthly Report - May 2023

As we are now well into the season I’ll begin with Cricket.

I think it’s fair to say that our season started with real promise but, in all honesty, more recently it has come off the rails a bit. The Championship started well with a victory at Yorkshire followed by a mixture of bad luck and well fought draws, then a loss at Worcs.

As for the T20, it seems to be a trend we start slowly in this competition then come strong. It would be easy at this point to fall into a negative mindset, but we must continue to support the process and back the systems we have put in place. There is still a lot of cricket to be played and as is stands we remain in three competitions, so now is not the time to over criticise.

Naturally, the Cricket Pillar of the Club will continue to monitor ongoing performances and look to make tweaks as we progress. The time for reflection will come at the end of the season or when we can no longer win the competitions we enter.

I also want to remind our supporters of the short-term strategy we have set out on for the next three years. This year is about ‘building’; building a Cricket Pillar that can establish the right foundations, then grow and eventually challenge for silverware. We do all want success (generally want it here and now) but must work hard to get to that point. Once again, I believe the harder we work, the more successful we will become, and rest assured the hard work has started (but still lots to do)!

I witness a great spirt in the camp and I still see determination from our Cricket Pillar, so despite the current form there remains optimism and hope.

I also want to give our academy a shout out this month as I had the pleasure of attending an Under 15’s game. Not only that I managed to get some ‘quality time’ with the coaches. In simple, the cricketing future is bright for this Club!

Moving onto our Commercial Pillar.

Firstly, I want to say thanks to those supporters that came along for the opening T20 game. It was an excellent atmosphere and great to see such a bumper crowd. I know the marketing and ticketing teams had been working hard at attracting numbers. What was excellent to see was the numbers that attended. Again, I remain adamant that the Club is heading in the right direction. Naturally Commercial and Cricket (as well as the other 4 Pillars) must work hand in hand. Success of one of the Pillars will breed success for each of others.

As we are in our 3rd quarter of the financial year, I’ve also been pleased with the progress so far, but there remains a lot of work for us to do if we are to continue to improve the fortunes of the Club. If I take the recent T20 opener we received several comments on food and the experience. It’s now up to us to listen to those comments and then make the necessary adjustments to improve. Listening is something that I am very keen on. Sometimes it is very difficult to respond to every request but if we start seeing trends on comments, then its crucial we respond to those. I am keen on a ‘can do’ culture at the Club and staff that will not accept mediocrity.

I would also say that a lot of the commercial staff are new to Leicestershire CCC and I know they are keen to learn, so please help and guide them. We are in this together and we are always looking to improve.

Figures for Income remain positive (3% ahead of budget and 4% ahead of same period last year), so we are doing something right but must never sit on our laurels. Progress must be our modus operandi at the Club.

With regards to our newest Pillar, Communications, this remains high on our agenda, in particular how we attract and regularly communicate with supporters old and new.

Printing and post are very expensive, so we must rely on electronic media more and more. Consequently, If you haven’t registered your email address with the Club then I would urge you to do so. If you are unsure, then please feel free to call into the offices and the staff will help and guide you. I know the team continue to look at how they can improve the website, app, and direct communication to our fans (as well as our social media outputs). Again, if you have any ideas or comments you would like to make, please feel free to drop them a line.

One area of our business that is undergoing a considerable change is our Community Pillar. Whilst the team continue to deliver programmes and build grass roots cricket around our county (as well and better engagement between local Clubs and us), there has been a huge amount of work on how we move this part of the business to a Foundation (charitable) status.

It’s a complex process but I’ll try and explain it.

By establishing a charity division of the Club (and separating the Community Pillar to a dedicated charitable status), it enables us to do so much more than transactional activity. By creating a charity, we can attract new sponsors and philanthropic supporters; we can tap into additional funds that allow us to do more for our community and we can create a dedicated board of trustees that can really drive our community relationships (which include everything from the recreational game to community groups).

A lot of sports clubs (particularly football clubs) have dedicated charitable arms in which they do some great work in their communities. There are many examples including the likes of Man Utd, Southampton and my former Club Huddersfield Town to name just a few.

When you create this charitable status, it opens so many more avenues for us to work on. Equally it allows the Board of the Cricket Club to focus on its business operation namely Cricket and Commercial. We are currently finalising the potential infrastructure of the new Charity (Foundation) arm but please keep your eyes peeled on the news in the coming weeks and months. As I said I am extremely excited by this development for the Club and how it can build on the work already undertaken.

As for an update on our Company Pillar (which includes the Masterplan), then like other parts of the business they are progressing well. In focussing on the Masterplan, we continue to operate in a consultation period (and will do so till the end of the season) however once October comes around then the Club will look to make some decisions that can drive the Masterplan forwards.

To help us with those decisions we are establishing a dedicated working party that comprises of our board members, the City Council, and the ECB. Collectively there is decades of experience in the group. Several strategic partners have approached the Club and in the coming months the working party will look to review the proposals and then decide on the progress to be made.

As I have mentioned previously it will be a phased approach to our Masterplan and its crucial, we make the right decisions to protect the future of the Club. We will also look to hold a few members forums that will allow Members to pose questions on the developments and other parts of the Business.

Finally, our Cash Pillar. We continue to run a ‘tight ship’ and will only spend what we deem necessary and essential. Equally income streams remain vital and are the bloodstream. It can be a little bit of a chicken and egg but the more support we get the more we can develop the Club. So, my message remains clear; please support us where you can, whether it’s a company sponsoring the club or as an individual purchasing a ticket, every penny spent with us can’t be underestimated (as well as appreciated).

Finally, just a little reminder to please support us at the upcoming Oakham Festival (Weds 19th July) and Kibworth Carnival (Tues 15th August). These are two new(ish) ventures for us and we are keen to really establish them in our cricketing calendar. 

Kindest regards,

Sean.