The first hurdle may have been cleared, but a series of daunting challenges lie ahead if Warwickshire are to successfully redevelop their crumbling Edgbaston ground and retain their status as a Test-hosting venue.
That was the message from the club's annual meeting last night. Although members over-whelmingly approved (645 votes to 90) the special resolution that allows the club's executive to borrow up to £20 million in order to fund the development, there were a series of stark warnings as to the viability of county clubs around the country.
Steven Mills, the club's honorary treasurer, warned that the increasing competition from grounds aiming to host international cricket was causing clubs to escalate their building plans to unsustainable levels.
However, despite acknowledging Warwickshire's "enormous loss" in the previous financial year, he told members they had "no option" but to back plans for the redevelopment and take on substantial debts in order to keep up with the competition.
"We were relegated in cricket terms and relegated in financial terms," Mills told an audience a good deal larger than for several championship games last season. "You will see that we have very high fixed costs . . . [that are] not sustainable at that level. We cannot manage without a Test Match. Other counties are in the same position, and if that doesn't suggest we've too many Test grounds, I don't know what does.
"One of the county clubs . . . is going to go the way of Leeds United. If anyone wants to bet about a county club going into administration, they won't get odds from me. But it will not be this club.
"I put it to you that you don't have any alternative: you have to address the stadium issue. You don't have an option. Warwickshire needs a stadium."
Mills lambasted the England and Wales Cricket Board for fuel-ling the growth of debt across the country. Not only have they encouraged the likes of Durham, Cardiff, Southampton and Bristol to bid to host international matches, Mills said, but they have increased the demands of what the grounds are expected to provide and drastically decreased the length of staging agreements; the guarantee for the allocation of future international games.
That has resulted in more clubs than can possibly host international cricket taking out huge loans backed by hope rather than sound business plans.
However, Mills also took a thinly veiled swipe at Warwickshire's commercial department urging them to deliver on the faith that has been shown in them.
"We are budgeting for a profit [of over £500,000] this year," Mills continued. "But let no one be under any illusions: it has to be delivered. The marketing guys have to perform."
So although there will be a measure of relief from Warwickshire's executive that the special resolution was passed, it will be tempered by the knowledge that greater challenges await.
Meanwhile Colin Short and Paul Warren were appointed to the general committee, while Darren Maddy was awarded the batting award for the 2007 season and Tim Ambrose the allrounder award. There was no bowling award as, in the words of Colin Povey, it was "not merited" by anyone last year.
Perhaps the biggest beneficiary of the evening, however, was the opportune fellow or fellows who used the cover of the annual meeting to break in to the offices of the Warwickshire Cricket Board and make off with a large quantity of computers and other equipment.
