The long drawn out process of selling (at least) a 49% stake in the existing Hundred competition to bidders is reaching a conclusion and should be concluded next week. The subsequent phase will no doubt be a negotiation between the successful bidders, the Hundred teams they now have a substantial stake in and the grounds involved as to what exactly the Hundred will look like in future.
Unless you are one of those who thinks change occurs at the speed anonymous posters on Twitter demand it should, whatever changes do take place will be from 2026
A group of US TechBros have paid £145m for a 49% stake in London Spirit the team that plays at Lords, which is undoubtedly the biggest draw in the bidding (although there is a dispute between the MCC and London Spirit about whether they will play there in the medium term).
Key players in the successful bid are senior figures in Google and Microsoft and people of Indian origin who are both cricket fans and businessmen who see the potential of the investment
The four Hundred teams sold so far(49%)The Oval (to the Mumbia Indians IPL franchise for £60m), Lords, Cardiff(to an Asian businessman for £40m) and Birmingham (£40m) have raised £365m. Manchester has sold a 70% stake to IPL team the Lucknow Super Giants for £80m.
Nottingham and Leeds will be completed shortly and Hampshire next week. Given these are mostly 49% stakes the process puts the overall value of the Hundred at £800m plus.
Two years ago the ECB the body that (sort of) runs English and Welsh cricket turned down an offer of £400m. The £800m is hardly IPL finance but it will see Counties getting a £10-12m cash injection each
Michael Atherton (Times 1st February) has underlined that the Hundred was never about boosting women’s cricket or attracting new fans(these are important by-products). Rather it was about creating a competition that was not controlled by the largely member run Counties, and selling it to raise funds..
I’m not a huge fan of the Hundred (I’m 68, I like Tests but also tbh T20s) but Atherton makes the very important point that up to now English and Welsh cricket is the only major arena which does not have a franchise element.
One way to deal with this is to get rid of market capitalism (a project I have been involved in for 50 years) but in the meantime it will be interesting and quite possibly concerning to see what the impact of the Hundred franchises actually is
Jonathan Liew in the Guardian (4th February) points out that the successful bidders are in fact buying a name or a brand and in reality not much else. Whether that will be what happens on the ground remains to be seen
I love County Cricket a great tradition but it will be gone when people my age (68 like you Keith) are dead. Let’s hope we have better luck with capitalism