UK Athletics Financial the deficit is smaller than expected
UKA chairman Ian Beattie briefed athletics writers this week ahead of the publication of their annual reports for the year ending in March. 2024: A loss of 1.6 million pounds (about $2 million) a year ago, the actual loss is 1.4 million pounds ($1.8 million), as it did last year , that the loss-making business was in a “strong cash position”.
He said: “Last year sport will remember that when UKA published our accounts, we also highlighted a strong cash position, giving us time to turn the organization around. This year’s account is now available online, I provide an update on our.” on progress and a few more details on the road to financial recovery.
“In December 2023, highlighting our loss position, we provided some ongoing projections of where our financial path would take us in the coming fiscal years. This was important to demonstrate our commitment to the program, which led us to a recovery position in 2023.” For 24 years we forecast a loss of £1.6 million; For 2024-25: a loss of £400,000; and around the declining position in 2025-26.
“As it is, we are recovering ahead of the forecast curve. Although there is obviously still a lot of work to do, our expected £1.6m is now expected to be £1.2m. will be -£250k and we are still forecasting a declining position for 2025-26 This has taken a huge toll on everyone involved in the organisation hard work and we continue to work in a way that will protect our financial future and the future of the sport.
“While many of the measures we put in place last financial year to reduce exits are starting to pay off, it is only in the next set of results that we will see the benefit of our ground-breaking partnership with London Marathon Events and the Great Run Company; Athletic Ventures – working with these highly experienced event partners on our world-renowned Diamond League, as well as the staging of the 2026 European Championships in Birmingham. will have a significant impact on our future performance.
“We did, however, highlight several variables in our financial outlook last year that we are aware of and continue to monitor closely. These remain relevant and impact all sports to some extent. One such variable is our legal costs related to disciplinary matters The UKA, like many non-governmental bodies in the sports funding landscape, continues to absorb legal fees for key work undertaken in the areas of advocacy and discipline aspects, they have also affected our ability to support teams in Great Britain and Northern Ireland outside of the UK Sport World Class program funding (Circular to support elite athletes).
“Last year we noted the extreme pressure to fund key development opportunities on the fringes of the Lottery-funded World Class Program (WCP), such as inter-city competitions, junior championship teams and other non-track championships. We continue to believe these events are supported However, over the years these have been partly funded by UKA revenues outside of the WCP, so we now We have begun to communicate through our policy that the upcoming championships will require an element of self-funding. This model will likely continue to evolve for the foreseeable future. We thank the athletes and sports industries who have continued a positive and constructive dialogue with us moving forward.
“Finally we got the UK Sport funding award. We rely heavily on the funding award at the start of each Olympic and Paralympic cycle. We’ve secured two consecutive world championships. We’ve never done that before entering the Los Angeles cycle in excellent performance and need to invest continued stability in the sport We hope to continue to move forward UK Sport with support.
We remain alive to these various challenges and continue to monitor them closely as part of this process. “There is a lot of optimism about our future stability and opportunities that will present themselves over the next few years. For example, we have rebuilt the financial foundation of the sport and through creative activities, for example through innovative business cooperation. Athletic Enterprises. This shows responsible decision-making. Without such developments, we should have been much more drastic, for example, we should have considered abandoning events like London.
The Athletics Meet, which we have already developed into the world’s most important one-day athletics meet, and where this year Keely Hodgkinson and Matthew Hudson-Smith and many others achieved personal bests just before the Olympic and Paralympic Games.
“Ten Olympic medals was the best result since 1984 and builds on ten medals in Budapest, our best ever World and Olympic Games. Our Paralympic performance was also remarkable with 18 medals against the ever-increasing competition that is now the global para-sport landscape. We are therefore determined that the finances will not stand in the way of our positive plans for the future, including the 2026 European Championships and bids for future events.
“More broadly, track and field remains the only truly global sport apart from football. Almost every country sends teams to the world championships and the Olympics. Almost every school in the world has a sports day and 100m. Running is booming all over the world and we are the most open and inclusive sport in the world.We know that the British public love athletics. Nine of BBC Sport’s top ten Olympic Games moments are athletic events, and there has been an increase in National Lottery ticket sales when athletics is live on TV, thanks to our athletes working hard to remind the public of the role they play in their success in
We have to admit that our future financial projections are “worst-case scenarios” because these numbers do not include any commercial or broadcast revenue. This means that any sponsorship or partnership will immediately improve in that position. And we will have further commercial opportunities in summer 2026 with a double home championship with the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow and the European Athletics Championships in Birmingham in 2026.
Athletic Enterprises is already helping us expand further in the sponsorship market. I want to finish by saying a very clear and heartfelt thank you to the National Lottery, reiterating the thanks given by our athletes and para-athletes in many areas, but it The impact on the sport and the people competing for their country is phenomenal. It wouldn’t happen without those contributions. Thanks to Nike, who continue to be the most supportive partners, and to BBC TV for showing our products and organizing events on their platforms, and finally, thanks to everyone who works, volunteers are working and putting their best effort into athletics in Great Britain.”
