Organisers
Tournament Budget Calculator
What a competition costs per match and per team, set against what entry fees actually bring in.
Total cost
18200.00
across 20 matches
Cost per match
910.00
Cost per team
2275.00
Balance
1800.00
Beyond the calculator
Run the whole competition in Crickslab. Fixtures, grounds, officials and the table all sit in one place and update themselves.
- Fixtures and standings generated for you
- Grounds, slots and officials in one calendar
- Every stat from every match, kept for good
| Line | Amount |
|---|---|
| Ground hire | 3000.00 |
| Match balls | 2000.00 |
| Umpires | 2400.00 |
| Scorers | 600.00 |
| Streaming | 4000.00 |
| Prize money | 5000.00 |
| Other | 1200.00 |
| Total cost | 18200.00 |
| Entry fee income | 20000.00 |
| Balance | 1800.00 |
How the number is worked out
The formula
Total = (per match costs x matches) + fixed costs Balance = entry fees - total- per match costs
- Ground hire, match balls, umpires, scorers and streaming.
- fixed costs
- Prize money and anything else that does not scale with the match count.
- entry fee income
- Fee per team multiplied by the number of teams.
A worked example: a twenty match competition
Twenty matches, eight teams. Ground hire 150 a match, four balls at 25 each, two umpires at 60, a scorer at 30, streaming at 200, prize money of 5000 and 1200 of other costs.
- 1Ground hire150 x 20 = 3000
- 2Match balls4 x 25 x 20 = 2000
- 3Officials(2 x 60 + 30) x 20 = 3000
- 4Streaming200 x 20 = 4000
- 5Prize money and other5000 + 1200 = 6200
- 6Total18200, which is 910 a match and 2275 a team
An entry fee of 2500 a team brings in 20000, leaving 1800 over. Cut the fee to 2000 and the competition runs at a loss of 2200.
Rules and edge cases
The situations that change the answer, and the ones most calculators get wrong.
Per match costs are the ones that surprise people
Prize money is visible and gets budgeted. Ground hire, balls and officials are per match, so they scale with the fixture count, and a format change from a knockout to a round robin can triple them without anyone revisiting the budget.
Balls are a bigger line than expected
Four balls a match at any serious standard, across twenty matches, is eighty balls. At club prices that rivals the ground hire. Competitions that reuse balls between matches should budget accordingly.
Entry fees rarely cover a competition of any size
Once streaming, prize money and officials are in, the fee needed to break even usually exceeds what teams will pay. Most competitions close the gap with sponsorship, ticketing or a share of streaming revenue rather than by raising the fee.
Budget for the weather
A washed out match still costs the ground hire and often the officials, and it may need rescheduling into a slot that costs again. A contingency of around ten per cent is the usual guide.
Frequently asked questions
It depends almost entirely on the match count and whether you stream. Ground hire, balls and officials are per match, so the format drives the total more than the number of teams does.
For organisers
Ticketing and streaming can close the gap
Crickslab handles ticket sales and live streaming alongside the competition itself, so the revenue that covers a budget like this runs through the same platform as the cricket.
See ticket bookingLast reviewed 17 August 2026. Playing conditions change, so if your competition uses a different rule, its regulations take precedence over anything here.