Hodgson Appointed Md Of The Oval
Surrey County Cricket Club Commercial Director Charlie Hodgson has been unveiled as the new Managing Director of The Oval.
Hodgson has held the role of Commercial Director at the 2018 County Championship winners for the past seven years.
His connection with the club now spans over 25 years, first as a player in the Surrey age group system before joining the commercial department in 2005.
In his new position, Hodgson is to take on additional responsibilities for match day delivery, including matches in the ICC World Cup, this summer’s final Ashes Test and Surrey fixtures in all four domestic competitions.
Alongside his existing commercial responsibilities, Hodgson will also play a key part in the continued development of the KIA Oval, which includes the construction in October this year of One Oval Square.
Among his achievements as Commercial Director, Hodgson has helped oversee a growth in Surrey CCC membership by over 50% in five years, mirroring the sustained rise in T20 ticket sales at the Kia Oval over the same period.
Off the playing field under Hodgson, sales in the club’s conference and events business has grown from £1.1m to £6m a year since 2012.
Hodgson has also worked as Sponsorship Manager and Head of Sales, before being promoted onto the Surrey Cricket Management Board and the board of Oval Events, the club’s joint venture with the Compass Group, in 2011.
Commenting on his new role as MD, Hodgson said: “With the ground set to increase in size in the next couple of years I look forward to playing a larger part in commercial operations as well as continuing to drive our off-field growth.
“Our membership numbers will be the largest in modern times and 2019 will see the Kia Oval host sell out matches across the ICC Cricket World Cup, the Ashes and Surrey’s home T20s.”
Richard Thompson, Chairman of Surrey CCC, said: “In the last decade, the club’s turnover has doubled to over £40m. This new role has been created due to this exponential growth and I can’t think of a better and more qualified person to fill it than Charlie. He has been involved in the club for over 25 years and has deep roots in the Surrey cricket family.”
Surrey CCC Chief Executive, Richard Gould, added: “2019 is going to be one of the biggest ever summers at the Kia Oval and with the ground hosting both the Ashes and ICC Cricket World Cup delivery of excellence is absolutely critical, in this role Charlie will be at the core of this.”
