Your Voice

The latest Your Voice feature, giving LBV members a platform for their views on the current business landscape in Leicester.

Sean Jarvis has nearly three decades of sports experience which includes securing title sponsorship deals for the Premier League, being one of the team who converted Rugby League from a winter to a summer sport, owning Oldham Athletic and being one of the Directors that took Huddersfield Town to the Premier League.

However, he has now returned to his city of birth and taken up the reins as CEO of Leicestershire County Cricket Club.

How would you describe what your business does?

From the outside looking in, we are a cricket club, but we are so much more than that. Whilst cricket and winning cricket matches is our primary focus, we are also a venue for outdoor concerts and events, a hospitality company, a data company, a networking hub and we are even a media company with our own TV station (Foxes TV). In fact, there are no limits to what we can become as long as cricket (and winning matches) is at the core of our business.

What are the biggest opportunities for your business?

There are so many opportunities for us. Everyone at the Club believes that ‘Better Never Stops’. Equally, we describe ourselves as the ‘Academy of Cricket’ and every day is a school day. Lockdown was incredibly challenging but did allow us to press the reset button and focus on how we do things better – including engaging with our supporters, improving our pathway for players and ultimately becoming a sports club that the city is proud of and wants to support. This a is ‘new breed of fox’.

What are the biggest challenges for your business?

The past 12 months have been challenging for us to have no supporters in the Club. However, with the backing of our partners and fans, we have navigated our way through this difficult period. Whilst we are making positive steps, we are still not out of the woods. So we need to continue to manage the Club carefully and build on the strong foundations that we have laid.

What would you identify as the key strengths of Leicester?

Without question the sport. We have such a great heritage of sport in the city. All of our teams and venues are something to be proud of and we should celebrate them at every opportunity. The people of Leicestershire are also passionate and competitive in their sport. This is something that really resonates with me.

What are the top three ways in which Leicester can develop to support the business community?

1. Support local provenance. The more Leicester businesses do business with Leicester businesses, the better.
2. We should celebrate our successes as much as we can. There is lots to shout about in Leicester. We should create a Leicester Day (a day of celebration about our great county).
3. Continue to encourage dialogue between businesses and our colleges and universities. By learning and sharing, we can only get better and grow as a city.