SURVIVAL RACKET CENTRE

If you read Courtside, which is basically a PR magazine for Badminton England, you may have read about the astonishing increase in BE membership as described by Chief Executive Adrian Christy, an increase from 40,000 to 130,000 within the last four years. He tries to qualify this figure by implying he may have simply totalled all of the participation data from all of the recreational schemes together, instead of just comparing the usual BE club membership figures. Which have remained pretty static for the past decade at approximately 40,000 to 50,000.

Is there an independent assessment of how well badminton is doing under the management of the current BE board? Well yes there is. We have just started a new funding period 2013–2017, and all sports are assessed for their success or failure in performances at major championships and for increasing participation and growing talent in their respective sports. Badminton has received a combined funding allocation of 23.9 million from Sport England and UK Sport for the next four years. Which on paper looks a very healthy sum, until you compare it with the previous four years funding allocation of 27.7 million, leaving a shortfall of 3.8 million.

Whilst other sports have received more funding, some have seen even bigger reductions. But there is no doubt about it, when you look at the money, badminton has been a loser. Does this reduced funding represent a verdict on the leadership of Christy and the BE board?

How do you fill a Badminton black hole of 950,000 per year? It is difficult to attract new sponsors to badminton as it is rarely broadcast on TV. Increasing members will generate extra income but unlikely to make much of a dent in the deficit. Which is why the only game in town is to build a much larger badminton centre in Milton Keynes with new commercial partners such as the Lawn Tennis Association and with the potential to build extra revenue streams from holding other sporting / leisure events.
It could be described as a survival centre for Badminton England. They also know leisure centres are going to struggle for funding from local councils up and down the country, which may well have repercussions on future participation numbers as facilities become under pressure. So why not build your own leisure / racket centre?
The alternative would be to dramatically cut the staffing levels at Badminton England to reduce expenditure.

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