Mind the gap. The rich are getting richer so what future for Sussex and other smaller counties?

The annual Leonard Curtis Report is put together by academics at Loughborough University and business of sport specialists and ex-players and their latest findings, which cover up to 2024, present a disturbing picture for the smaller clubs, even though all 18 first-class counties will get a share of around £24m each from the £520m sale of the Hundred franchises.

Sussex were deducted points in all three competitions at the start of the season in order for them to access exceptional ECB funding after reporting a £1.33m operating loss as well as missing revenue targets and increasing costs to an unsustainable level.

The structured loan the ECB have provided needs to be repaid in full by 31 January 2029 and Sussex have agreed to a number of other conditions including restrictions on the men’s playing budget for this season and the next two.

Interim chief executive Mark West said earlier this year that they will have to trim £500k off the bottom line and already Henry Crocombe, Tom Alsop and Fynn Hudson-Prentice have confirmed they are moving to Surrey and Hampshire respectively after turning down contract offers.

The report highlighted that Sussex’s wages to revenue ratio rose to 69% in 2025, the highest it has been since the pandemic-affected season of 2020 when revenue plumetted.

Meanwhile Paul Farbrace is reverting to a part-time role as director of cricket from 1 November to save money and as well as Alsop, Crocombe and Hudson-Prentice more of the eight players out of contract at the end of the season are also expected to leave.

The report added: “Sussex’s case … raises questions over the extent to which the non-host counties will be able to compete on the field in future, given the tight margins they largely operate under, the growing pressure on player and staff wages and the other cost increases across the domestic game, and the challenges associated with implementing a revenue diversification strategy.”

One area where money from the Hundred windfall could be spent is in further development of the County Ground.

Sussex’s four-stage masterplan was unveiled in 2019 to try and grow existing income streams. It is due to be completed by 2032 but so far only phase one - the building of the Tate residences at the entrance to the ground and the retail units under the South West Stand - has been completed.

Since the original plan was unveiled by former CEO Rob Andrew, challenges such as construction cost inflation have increased the financial risk.

Phase two could see a 300-capacity hospitality facility built in the south-east corner complete with roof garden. But no formal announcement by the club has been made on whether the development, which was slated to be completed by 2028, will go ahead in its current guise.

“Sussex could benefit significantly from The Hundred windfall … and depending on their future plans some of it could be used to fund further ground redevelopment without the need to enter into a joint venture or borrow finance from external sources,” the report added.

“While being an exceptional case, the challenges Sussex have faced around balancing ambition on the field with operational performance off it, and the growing financial risk attached to major projects … in many ways illustrate that while funds from The Hundred can assist non-host counties, other prevailing factors will continue to heavily influence their future.”

The report lays bare the gulf in finances between the ‘haves’ and ‘have nots’ among the 18 counties.

Most strikingly, their findings reveal that Surrey, Lancashire, Hampshire, and Warwickshire—the game’s traditional financial heavyweights—accounted for a staggering 53% of the total revenue across the 18 first-class counties, pulling in £134m of the £253m overall turnover.

In that metric Sussex are ranked 12th - above Somerset and Essex. The bottom four is the same as 12 months ago - Worcestershire, Leicestershire, Derbyshire and Northants, who landed a pleasing blow for the small fry earlier this month when they won the Vitality Blast.

Of the £27m handed out by the ECB to the counties, Sussex’s share was 44% of their total revenue which placed them ninth of the 18 (Surrey’s, incidentally, was only 8%).

At £4.59m Sussex’s wage bill - for all staff costs not just players - ranked 12th and accounted for 58.2% of their revenue. To put that into context, Lancashire’s wage bill was more than £13m but only four clubs had a wage bill that swallowed up more of their revenue than Sussex.

Since their financial crisis erupted, West has reiterated on several occasions that with the ECB watching their every move - including having a representative present when their finances are discussed at executive level - every pound has to be spent wisely.

It might seem tempting to go ahead with phase 2 of the development of the County Ground safe in the knowledge that it can be financed by the Hundred dividend.

But it would still represent something of a gamble to build a hospitality facility in a city where there are any number of venues offering something similar. The only thing that there seems to be a shortage of in the area is housing. The flats in the Tate Residences sold quickly, but the office units took a lot longer to shift.

There is room at the Cromwell Road end as well as the south-east corner for a sympathetic development which would meet the club’s hospitality needs and perhaps leave room for a few more flats. Planning permission might be an issue, but maybe not when you consider that most of the ground is overlooked by housing.

It’s probably not top of new chairman Ed Warner’s in tray, but there has never been a better opportunity to rethink the County Ground using the Hundred money with a development that generates all-year-round revenue and ensures that Sussex has a sustainable future once it gets past 2028 and its current problems.