Lords cricket ground, one of the world’s most iconic, hosts a Test between England and India in July 2025. A few weeks later however it will be exclusively the home of the Hundred team currently called London Spirit.
Lords is owned by the MCC a private members club (there is a waiting list). As part of its plans to monetise English and Welsh cricket the ruling body the ECB have gifted the grounds that host Hundred teams 51% of their equity. The ECB plan to sell the remaining 49% to a suitable and most likely the highest bidder.
The list of bidders has now been whittled down and those interested in Lords (the highest valued ground) are:
Avram Glazer (Man U Co-Chair)
Cain International (Chelsea director Jonathan Goldstein & joint owner Todd Boehly)
Ambani Family (owner of Mumbai Indians)
Sanjiv Goenka (owner of Lucknow Super Giants)
Liberty Media (owns F1 & MotoGP)
Owners of Chennai Super Kings
Given the scale of investment the ECB are after its unlikely that any of the above will be content with a 49% stake. In the case of Lords the MCC can sell some or all of their stake to give a successful bidder the controlling interest.
They no doubt will want to re-brand the ground so perhaps next season at least for part of the summer it’ll be the Mumbai Indian Lords or the Manchester Lords
The source of this story is Elizabeth Ammon (The Times) always a well informed & readable cricket writer
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