2017 County Championship
| Administrator(s) | England and Wales Cricket Board |
|---|---|
| Cricket format | First-class cricket (4 days) |
| Tournament format(s) | League system |
| Participants | 18 |
The 2017 County Championship (known for sponsorship reasons as the 2017 Specsavers County Championship), is the 118th cricket County Championship season. It was announced in March 2016 that the season would feature eight teams in Division One and ten teams in Division Two, meaning that at the end of the 2016 season only one team was promoted from Division Two whilst two were relegated from Division One.
Following a series of financial "bailout" payments made by the England and Wales Cricket Board to Durham during the 2016 season, the county, which had finished fourth in Division One at the end of the season, were relegated to Division Two in place of the eighth place team, Hampshire. Durham were also placed under a salary cap administered by the ECB until 2020 and will start the 2017 Championship season with a deduction of 48 points. Ahead of the season, each team played a first-class match against a Marylebone Cricket Club University team.
The 2017 Championship was divided into two divisions, Division One with eight teams, Division Two with 10 teams. Teams in Division Two will play four other counties only once.
Team promoted from Division Two
Team relegated from Division One
Teams receive 16 points for a win, 8 for a tie and 5 for a draw. Bonus points (a maximum of 5 batting points and 3 bowling points) may be scored during the first 110 overs of each team's first innings.
The fixture list for the 2017 season was announced in November 2016.
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