Despite Cricket SA reporting a loss of 440 million rand at the CSA Annual General Meeting in Johannesburg on Saturday, organization president Riaan Richards expressed confidence in the ability to host a successful World Cup.
The absence of major international tours, particularly in the men's division, significantly impacted the financial results; last season, the Proteas team played only three home T20I matches. Furthermore, over 300 million rand was invested in stadium modernization, with South Africa participating as a host in eight out of the tournament's twelve cities, which is jointly held with Zimbabwe and Namibia.
Richards stated that he is comfortable with the current situation. He noted that people had many questions about the 2027 World Cup, so they intentionally created a separate company to ensure the independence of the process without complicating the entire CSA structure. According to him, this new structure is functioning very effectively, and they are very confident in the great success of the 2027 World Cup.
CSA's financial results showed that over the last four-year cycle, the organization generated revenue of 4.84 billion rand and a net profit of 492.9 million rand. However, the 2026 financial year proved predictably challenging: revenue dropped to 856 million rand, and CSA recorded a loss of 440.6 million rand.
CSA Vice-President, Dr. Mohammed Musadji, agreed with Richards. He emphasized that from the perspective of the ICC, both at the board management level and in terms of event hosting, they are satisfied with how South Africa is preparing to host this prestigious and historic event. Musadji added that all systems are ready for a very successful event.
CEO Folletsi Moseki reported that CSA is actively working to diversify its income sources so as not to rely solely on revenue from Indian tours. Moseki noted that they have established good relations with India and are constantly working to maintain them, but stressed the importance of focusing on income diversification. In recent years, they have intensively sought sponsorship, as sponsorship revenue is an important part of this diversification process, and they are also focusing on creating new revenue models.
Moseki also added that this is critically important because even hosting major teams like Australia and England in the 2026/27 cycle does not guarantee automatic large income. The changing landscape requires finding other ways to raise funds. Despite having tours by both England and Australia in one year, the amount of money received does not match previous years. This is due to multiple factors, but the broadcasting sector likely had the greatest impact, forcing the organization to seriously address income diversification.