Sussex reveal the price of success

Chris Adams celebrates Sussex's first Championship in their 164-year history

Sussex have revealed the cost of their success last summer, unveiling a loss of £367,454 in the year they won the County Championship for the first time. And David Green, the county's chairman, revealed that the deficit would have exceeded half a million had they not insured against winning the title.

The main reason for the loss was the huge increase in player's wages, up from £215,000 to £1.4 million, largely a result of paying bonuses as a result of the county's success. "Sussex have an inherited contractual liability to match prize money paid to the players," Green explained. "This makes winning of any competition an expensive hobby - particularly the championship, as other counties have found to their cost in the past."

While the news is worrying - Green added that he couldn't see any areas where substantial savings could be made - Sussex will be comforted by the gift of almost £7 million bequeathed to them in the will of Spen Cama, their former president.

A chunk of that money will have to spent on refurbishing the Hove headquarters, where Green admitted there was a legacy of "decades of total neglect", with the pavilion earmarked for work this year. "The truth is we have a 19th-century ground which we are required to bring into the 21st century of sportsground safety compliance," he said. "The trouble is somehow the 20th century passed us by."

Sussex's loss is the latest by champion counties. Yorkshire's 2001 title cost them dear - they revealed massive losses in the same year, were relegated the following season and are still financially struggling. Even Surrey, described as the Manchester United of domestic cricket, found that signing big names to maintain success was unsustainable and have been forced to make cuts to balance the books.