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Revealed: Hundred deals not done after pushback from Indians and Americans
Exclusive: Prospective buyers of London-based franchises have flagged concerns over how much say they will have
Nick Hoult
Pushback by the prospective buyers of the two London franchises means the deadline for finalising the £520 million Hundred deals has been extended by the England and Wales Cricket Board.
Telegraph Sport understands Reliance Industries, owned by India’s Ambani family who purchased the Oval Invincibles for £123 million, and Cricket Investor Holdings, the American-led consortium of tech entrepreneurs who successfully bid £295 million for the London Spirit based at Lord’s, have flagged concerns over aspects of the participation agreement, which is the main legal document between the buyers and the ECB.
Richard Gould, the ECB’s chief executive, is flying to India this weekend for further talks with the new owners after agreeing to use an option to extend the eight-week exclusivity window between the buyers and the board that will now stretch the process until after Easter.
Around half of the buyers are happy and ready to sign but four, led by the London bidders, have raised concerns over the participation agreement, which covers the next television deal and issues such as sponsorship and how much say the owners will have in a future Hundred governing council. “It is about what-ifs in the future,” said one source.
There are potential issues over ECB sponsors and those brought in by new owners, as well as schedule clashes in 2028 and 2032 with the summer Olympics, which now include cricket.
The ECB has engaged high-powered lawyers Latham & Watkins to act as its co-council in talks with bidders who include the Ambani family, the richest in Asia and owners of the Mumbai Indians, and chief executives of some of the world’s most famous brands such as Nikesh Arora of Palo Alto Networks, who is leading the Lord’s consortium. Latham & Watkins was previously involved in the Manchester United sale, and acquisitions of Chelsea and a minority sale in Liverpool.
Multiple sources have said the deals are not done. One described the participation agreement wrangling as a “major issue” and that owners are “flexing muscles with ECB”, but sources at the board insist the deals are on track, that nobody is “on the verge of walking away” and that investors just want “security” because they are “putting so much money in”.
One stumbling block is believed to be the future television rights deal, from which the owners will raise value on their investment. Currently the Hundred is bundled up in the Sky deal which runs until 2028. The ECB is trying to retain control of the next deal from 2028-2032, which they want to sell as a bundled deal as well as part of the participation agreement.
It is understood owners have queried why the Hundred cannot be unbundled and sold separately to the highest bidder, which is how cricket-rights deals work in India.
But in India, networks make their money from advertising. In the UK, broadcasters like Sky rely on subscriptions, which is why they pay a premium for the whole summer package. Breaking this up threatens the ECB’s long-standing relationship with Sky and would lower the value of Test cricket rights in the process, which form a major part of the ECB’s income.
The ECB exceeded all its expectations when the Hundred auction realised an overall valuation of £975 million from its eight franchises. The board is selling its 49 per cent stake in each of the franchises (the host grounds own the other 51 per cent), bringing a cash injection of £520 million into the game once the deals are signed. The recreational game is in line to receive £50 million and the non-host grounds around £20-£27 million each.
Sources insist the 27-day window for the Hundred and the hundred-ball format remain under the control of the ECB and are not part of the participation agreement.
In February, Gould described the Hundred sale as a game-changer for cricket. The money raised will pay off county cricket’s debt, enable investment in stadiums and player pathways to produce talent.
Richard Thompson, the ECB chair, said at the time: “Each of these partners shares a passion for the competition’s success and cricket itself. They are global leaders in sport, technology, investment and commerce, aligned in our ambition to continue building the Hundred as a truly world-class sporting spectacle.
“This means vital support for county cricket, growing the women’s game and inspiring even more children – and people of all ages – to pick up a bat and ball. This will also secure the funding that will go directly to the professional counties and recreational game, underpinning the fabric of our county game and helping future-proof cricket’s growth in England and Wales for generations to come.”
TODD BOEHLY - FIT AND PROPER INVESTOR?
Chelsea fans call for investigation into Todd Boehly’s links with ticketing website
Boehly is a director and investor in resale website Vivid Seats
The Chelsea Supporters’ Trust (CST) has written to the Premier League to demand that it “investigate” club chairman Todd Boehly’s role in a ticket resale website.
The group has penned an open letter to league chief Richard Masters in which it has reiterated concerns over Boehly’s involvement with Vivid Seats, with the American supposedly a director and investor who owns up to 41 per cent through his holding company.
Boehly also owns a 13 per cent stake in Chelsea, with the CST calling his involvement with Vivid Seats “a "breach of trust" and "a clear conflict of interest".
According to the letter, tickets on the website “are being sold for above face value at significantly inflated rates”, with “hundreds of Chelsea FC General Admission tickets” currently listed.
In addition, Vivid Ticket is “explicitly named on the Premier League website as "a known unauthorised ticket website”, according to the letter.
"Many CST members are clearly infuriated by this connection and have written to us,” says the letter, which was posted on X (formerly known as Twitter).
"As a director of Chelsea FC and part-owner, Mr Boehly's connection with Vivid Seats is totally inappropriate and significantly undermines the efforts of Chelsea FC, the Premier League, and the Metropolitan Police to combat ticket touting.
"Mr Boehly has been contacted directly by the CST and has been offered multiple opportunities to both publicly and privately address supporters' concerns.
"Neither Mr Boehly nor his representatives have, however, acted on these requests, and thousands of tickets remain for sale on the Vivid Seats website."
A quick search of the Vivid Seats site shows that tickets are available for the Blues’ home match against Manchester United in May for prices starting at £442. The most expensive ticket for Liverpool’s final match of the season against Crystal Palace is currently listed at a little over £19,000.
Vivid is legally allowed to operate overseas, though when accessing from the UK a message pops up claiming that “tickets for the EPL matches are not currently available for purchase in your location”.
In a response on their website, the Football Supporters’ Association said that it was “right behind the points made”, adding that “there is no excuse for a club owner to be involved in such activity”.
The Football Supporters' Association backed the CST's calls for the issue to be addressed.
"It is crystal clear that the Premier League needs to take action," an FSA spokesperson said.
"Clubs, supporters' groups, the police and the Premier League itself has worked hard in recent years to combat ticket touting - there is no excuse for a club owner to be involved in such activity."
Chelsea and the Premier League both declined to comment when contacted by the PA news agency on Wednesday.
‘It’s so exciting to be in on this’: why Chelsea owners bought into the Hundred
Jonathan Goldstein, who with Todd Boehly spent £40m to buy half of Trent Rockets, says English cricket has been ‘significantly underexploited’ until now
Sat 8 Mar 2025 08.00 GMT
As a man who has negotiated with Roman Abramovich and Daniel Levy, Jonathan Goldstein is no novice when it comes to investing in sport, but even he professes to have been stunned and thrilled when participating in last month’s Hundred auction.
The Chelsea director “maintained discipline” as a rival Silicon Valley consortium featuring the chief executives of Microsoft and Google paid £144m for 49% of London Spirit. He then returned to the England and Wales Cricket Board’s virtual auction room the following week to buy half of Trent Rockets for £40m, in partnership with Todd Boehly, the Chelsea co-owner and chair, and the private equity company Ares Management.
The Chelsea duo will not be splashing out £1bn on new players for the Rockets, but there have been talks with the men’s and women’s coaches, Andy Flower and Jon Lewis, about their plans for next week’s final 2025 player draft. Goldstein is brandishing details of the Rockets’ existing roster, which includes Joe Root and Nat Sciver-Brunt, when we meet at the London offices of their investment company, Cain International, where there is a rather incongruous copy of Nick Compton’s autobiography among the collection of art, architecture and photography books in the boardroom.
As a self-confessed “cricket nut,” whose introduction to the sport was watching Essex at the Ilford festival in the 1970s before following them around the county for Championship matches, Goldstein is the driving force behind the Rockets purchase, but Boehly recognises the Hundred’s untapped commercial potential and will lend his expertise.
Any doubts as to whether the ECB was on to a winner in selling off 49% shares in the eight franchises were blown away by the sale of the Spirit. The American group and the Indian billionaire Sanjiv Goenka spent seven hours aggressively bidding against each other every 15 minutes until the valuation reached £295m, leaving Cain and Avram Glazer’s Lancer Capital as silent witnesses.
For Goldstein the adrenaline rush could hardly have been more different from the drawn-out negotiations in which Cain failed in an attempt to buy Tottenham 11 years ago, before they succeeded as part of Boehly’s group in buying into Chelsea.
“It was quite amazing to watch,” Goldstein says. “We sat there and maintained our discipline and just watched the others go at it, hammer and tongs, for hours.
“On at least two occasions one of the parties, who were blind to us, left it until the last 40 seconds of the 15-minute window to put in their bid. It was incredible. And good luck to Nikesh [Arora] and his group [the purchasers of the London Spirit stake] – they’re an incredibly smart group of people behind that consortium.”
Having initially taken the view that it was Spirit or bust, Goldstein soon changed his mind and resolved to return to the auction, with the Rockets appealing due to his personal connection to Nottingham. Three of Goldstein’s children attended Nottingham University and he owns a restaurant and student accommodation in the city. Memories of watching Stuart Broad take eight for 15 as a fan at Trent Bridge on that extraordinary first morning of the fourth 2015 Ashes Test may also have been a subconscious influence.
“I love Nottingham, I love Trent Bridge so it’s exciting to be on this,” he says. “I do genuinely love the game, but also see this as a huge opportunity. The IPL [Indian Premier League] has done extraordinary things for cricket in India, and the Hundred can do the same for English cricket. With the new investors who’ve come in, there’s no doubt we can make it the second biggest cricket competition in the world.
“I think when you look at cricket in England, it’s been significantly underexploited over a period of time. Sky Sports have done a very good job in broadcasting, but at attendance and a consumer level, there are improvements to be made.
“If you believe in sport, and you believe that sport is a platform for both commercial opportunity and also individual advancement, the potential is huge. And if you love the game on top of that, then it’s a double double, right?
“The reason that everybody is at the table is that they see an opportunity to grow a competition which will be good for the spectator, good for players, good for broadcasters, and good for investors.”
For all his boyish enthusiasm – memories of Essex games at Colchester or watching his childhood hero Graham Gooch score 123 against West Indies at Lord’s in 1980 pepper our conversation – Goldstein is clear that Cain expect to make a return on their £40m investment. There have already been positive conversations with neighbouring Nottingham Forest about future partnerships, new commercial deals for next year are in the works, and match-day ticket prices are likely to rise from the ECB-subsidised model currently in operation, not least as each Hundred franchise has only four home matches each summer.
“Todd would be the first to say that Jonathan is the one who understands about cricket, but he’s a great person to bounce ideas off,” Goldstein says. “He’s got interests across multiple sports, from basketball to baseball to football, and he certainly sees the power of it. Todd will come to a game this summer.
“We’ve already had conversations with the team at Nottingham Forest, obviously the grounds are only 100 yards away from each other. I met the Forest chairman, Nick Randall, last week and had a chat about what we can all start to do together.
“We inherit a lot of commercial arrangements that run out at the end of this season, so there are huge opportunities. Every single Hundred team sells more merchandise with their new brand than they do under the county label. And with eight new investors – and all their global connections – coming in the value is only going to increase.
“The Hundred is similar to NFL in that there are so few matches. We have to make each one a must‑attend event, and really create a premium product for spectators, at the ground and at home. Steve Smith and Kane Williamson have already signed contracts for this summer, and more world-class players will come next year.
“And we need to increase the feeling of fandom. I was on the phone to an engineer in India recently and they were telling me they were a massive fan of Chennai Super Kings, which over there is no different to being a Chelsea or Liverpool fan. The IPL have created that sense of tribalism in 15 years, and if we do this right then the Hundred can do the same.”
Hundred franchises valued close to £1bn with English cricket to bank nearly £500m
The Hundred auction concluded with the long-anticipated sale of 49 per cent of Southern Brave to Hampshire County Cricket Club’s Indian Premier League (IPL) owner GMR for almost £50 million, taking the total value of the eight franchises past £960 million and raising close to £500 million for the game.
GMR, the co-owner of IPL team Delhi Capitals – as well as other subsidiary franchises around the world – completed a landmark deal to buy Hampshire last year from long-time owner Rod Bransgrove. Hampshire are one of only three counties not owned by their members, and became the first of the 18 first-class counties to come under overseas ownership.
That made GMR the strong favourite to pick up the England and Wales Cricket Board’s (ECB) 49 per cent of Southern Brave, and it won the auction with a bid that valued the franchise at £98 million. It is understood that GMR placed the only bid at the auction, but multiple other parties were at the table and interested.
As GMR was both host county and an interested investor, the ECB found itself in a tricky position that was unique among the eight sales.
The deal takes the total valuation of all eight teams past £960 million, meaning the total to be shared across the game – at 49 per cent – will be close to £500 million.
Delhi Capitals are the fourth IPL franchise to invest in a Hundred team and, after Sunrisers Hyderabad at Northern Superchargers, the second to take full control. The Mumbai Indians owners, the Ambani family, have a 49 per cent minority stake in Oval Invincibles, partnering Surrey, and Lucknow Super Giants have a 70 per cent controlling stake in Manchester Originals, partnering Lancashire.
This achieves the ECB’s stated desire not to have an “IPL takeover” of the tournament. Two Indian-American groups have bought stakes in teams, with Sanjay Govil investing in Welsh Fire and a Silicon Valley tech consortium investing in Lord’s-based London Spirit.
The other two investors are Americans who own English football teams, with the Tom Brady-backed Knighthead Capital adding Birmingham Phoenix to their ownership of Birmingham City FC. Chelsea co-chairman Todd Boehly’s Cain International worked on a successful 49 per cent bid for Trent Rockets with Ares Management.
Glamorgan statement about Freedom Fire
Pravda spin-it
Cain International (“Cain”) and Ares Management Credit funds (“Ares”) have together entered exclusivity to acquire a significant stake in Trent Rockets alongside Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club when ownership transfers to the club later this year.
Cain, a partnership between Jonathan Goldstein and Eldridge Industries, manages over $17 billion in AUM, with key investments in lifestyle and entertainment, including Aman, The St. James, Delano, Maslow’s Group, Prezzo, and Swingers. Goldstein also serves on the board of Chelsea FC.
Ares Management, a leading alternative investment manager with $484 billion in assets, brings extensive experience investing in sports, media and entertainment opportunities. This transaction expands Ares’ existing portfolio that includes global professional sports team investments in Inter Miami CF, McLaren Racing and Atlético de Madrid, among others.
They were chosen following an extensive sales process involving each of the eight teams in The Hundred, with around 100 parties signalling interest in securing a stake in one of the competing sides.
The two parties will now enter an eight-week period of exclusivity – at the conclusion of which, pending a satisfactory outcome of due diligence and legal checks, Cain and Ares will acquire a 49% stake in Trent Rockets. Nottinghamshire will retain the majority 51% stake.
“The experience of Cain and Ares in helping businesses in recreational and leisure sectors to grow, and their focus on delivering long-term benefits, made them an ideal fit for this investment,” said Nottinghamshire Chair Andy Hunt.
"The Hundred has been an undoubted success in Nottingham - welcoming a diverse audience, attracting some of the world's best players and delivering an experience for supporters that is unrivalled on these shores.
"This investment, alongside those in other competing teams, will both help to safeguard the future of our 18-county system and elevate The Hundred to ensure it is able to thrive as one of the finest competitions of its kind worldwide.”
Jonathan Goldstein, CEO of Cain International, said: "Cricket has long been a cornerstone of British sport, bringing communities together and creating moments that last a lifetime. Trent Rockets is a team with a strong heritage and an exciting future, and we’re thrilled to be part of that journey. We look forward to working with the team to build on its success and deepen its impact in Nottingham and beyond."
Mark Affolter, Co-Head of Ares' Sports, Media & Entertainment strategy, said: "As a global professional sports investor, Ares seeks exciting opportunities to work with teams like Trent Rockets that understand the history of the sport, the legacy of the team and the respect for fans. We believe Trent Rockets is well-positioned to capitalize on the exciting opportunities ahead, and we look forward to providing our support."
Trent Rockets are one of four teams to have secured silverware since The Hundred’s inception in 2021, with the men’s side claiming the title at Lord’s in 2022.
The tournament has attracted sell-out crowds to Trent Bridge – while a new record attendance of 10,693 for a women’s fixture at the venue was set last summer.
Trent Bridge has been officially recognised as offering the best spectator experience in the competition for the past two years.
What can possibly go wrong?
- We have a buyer that failed to win his first two choices
- We have a host that didn't get to work with any of their preferred potential partners
Chelsea co-owner Todd Boehly buys into Hundred franchise Trent Rockets for £40m
Will Macpherson
Chelsea co-owner Todd Boehly has bought a minority stake in the Nottingham-based Hundred franchise Trent Rockets for almost £40 million.
Cain International, the company Boehly co-founded with Chelsea director Jonathan Goldstein, placed the winning bid for Trent Rockets, the seventh franchise to be sold as part of the England and Wales Cricket Board’s auction process.
The auction valued the Trent Bridge team at £79 million, and Cain – which is working with Ares Management, a private equity firm – has bought a 49 per cent stake. It will now enter a period of exclusivity with Nottinghamshire CCC, who will retain a controlling (51 per cent) stake in Trent Rockets.
It is understood the auction opened at £60 million and Boehly’s group beat Indian Premier League franchise Kolkata Knight Riders and Indian businessman Amit Jain in a bidding war.
This takes the running total of valuations of Hundred franchises beyond £850 million, with one more sale, Southampton-based Southern Brave, to come on Wednesday. Brave are expected to be picked up by host county Hampshire’s owners GMR, the Indian business that co-owns Indian Premier League team Delhi Capitals, but it is understood there will be an auction for the team featuring four different bidders (including GMR).
Boehly, who is American, had previously been in the running for both London franchises, but was outbid for London Spirit (by a tech consortium led by Palo Alto boss Nikesh Arora) and Oval Invincibles (by the Ambani family, owners of Mumbai Indians).
After losing out, he turned his attention to Trent Rockets. They were a very popular franchise earlier in the sales process, with around 15 parties interested, but their late position in the order meant they were picked up for a relative snip.
Nottinghamshire were thought to prefer an IPL partner, but by the time bidding wound round to them, Sunrisers Hyderabad, who bought a 100 per cent stake in Northern Superchargers, and Lucknow Super Giants, who bought a 70 per cent stake in Manchester Originals, were off the market, as well as the Ambanis. KKR showed an interest, but were eventually outbid.
The ECB, Nottinghamshire and Raine had postponed the sale of Rockets by a few days in order to gather interest, and it is understood that they are happy with the price raised in the circumstances. By holding onto their share, Nottinghamshire could cash in later down the line.
With another £39 million in the pot, the total to be shared between the counties and recreational game should cross £425 million when Southern Brave are sold. Once fees paid to Raine, the bank running the sale, are accounted for (they are expected to run into the millions), the money will be spread through English cricket, in this structure:
- The first 10 per cent to the recreational game, with the rest shared by the counties;
- Of the counties’ share, the first £275 million shared 19 ways (between the 18 first-class counties and MCC);
- The next £150 million shared between the 11 non-hosts;
- All proceeds above £425 million shared 19 ways once more.
Host counties selling any of their share (i.e. Lancashire and Yorkshire), will split the proceeds as such:
- The first 10 per cent to the recreational game;
- The next 80 per cent to the host county;
- The final 10 per cent split by the other 17 counties and MCC.
The investment expands Boehly’s sporting portfolio. He led a consortium, Blueco, that took over Chelsea for £4.25 billion in May 2022, while he also co-owns French football team Strasbourg and the LA Dodgers baseball team.
Boehly’s winning bid means that the ECB’s stated aim to have four of the eight teams owned by IPL franchises will be achieved. Two of the eight are involved in English football: Boehly’s group, as well as the Tom Brady-backed Knighthead Capital, the owner of Birmingham City, which has picked up a 49 per cent stake in Edgbaston-based Birmingham Phoenix.
11/02
Todd Boehly Buys Rockets Stake worth £39.2 M (to the ECB) as Rockets are valued at £80M
Cain International buy Rockets Stake
Chelsea owner buys Trent Rockets stake
Mr Boehly's Eldridge Industries have their fingers in multitude of pies, one of which is part ownership of Chelsea FC,
10/02
https://www.kiaoval.com/surrey-ccc-and-reliance-enter-exclusive-negotiations-over-the-oval-invincibles/
From counting loo rolls to feeling flush.
Ali Martin.
The Guardian.
Saturday, 8 February 2025.
PTG 4762-22833.
07/02
When is Lot 7 being auctioned - " franchise current know as Trent Rocket, one previous owner"?
Is there anyone left with any money to bid?
Which of the Trent Bridge staff went to India to drum up interest?
06/02
Is it Rockets' turn for lift-off today? Has the Greek Oligarch retained his interest with his other distractions across the road? Reports suggest not.
Has the extent of the return from other sales meant that the Trent Bridge franchise can cling on to a majority stake of the Rockets and that Notts will stilll pocket enough money to pay for the pavilion project? Work has already begun on clearing and cataloguing the contents of the old building (by the heritage team). Preparing the conversion of chunks of the Radcliffe Road stand into dressing rooms with pitch access will have to start very soon.
05/02
IPL Sunrisers buy entire Leeds Franchise
Superchargers 100% Sold to Sun Group
Will Macpherson
Cash-strapped Yorkshire have secured more than £43 million of investment as the first host county to sell their entire stake in a Hundred franchise.
Sunrisers Hyderabad, of the Indian Premier League, won a three-way auction to buy 100 per cent of Northern Superchargers, the Hundred team based at Headingley, for a staggering £100.5 million.
Superchargers, owned by Kalanithi Maran, a media tycoon of the Sun Group, became the sixth of the eight Hundred franchises to be sold as part of the England and Wales Cricket Board’s auction process.
The ECB is selling 49 per cent of each team, then gifting 51 per cent to the host county, in this case Yorkshire. They chose to sell that entire stake, meaning Sunrisers will take complete control of the franchise.
Yorkshire receive 80 per cent of the windfall from the sale of their 51 per cent (10 per cent goes to the recreational game, and 10 per cent to the other counties), as well as their share of the ECB’s 49 per cent in all eight teams. In total, Yorkshire are looking at a cash injection of around £60 million, which would allow them to write off their debts, both to chairman Colin Graves and other sources. It may also mean they park plans to demutualise, thus remaining a members’ club for the immediate future. Yorkshire have been in deep financial trouble in recent years, exacerbated by the racism crisis that engulfed the county.
Yorkshire are now managed by Graves, the former ECB chairman who oversaw the introduction of the Hundred, and interim chief executive Sanjay Patel, the former managing director of the competition for the ECB.
Sunrisers, who were advised in this process by British sports advisers Oakwell, are the third IPL franchise to invest in a Hundred team, following Mumbai Indians (the Ambani family) buying 49 per cent of Oval Invincibles and Lucknow Super Giants (Sanjib Goenka) buying around 70 per cent of Manchester Originals. They also have a team in South Africa’s SA20, Sunrisers Eastern Cape, based in Gqeberha (formerly Port Elizabeth).
The bidding for Superchargers started at £80 million, and resulted in Sunrisers beating off competition from Rajasthan Royals, then Amit Jain, an American-Indian billionaire.
The remaining two franchises to be sold are Trent Rockets, in whom Jain is likely to be interested, and Southern Brave, whose host county Hampshire are already owned by GMR, the Indian business that part-owns the IPL team Delhi Capitals. It is unclear whether the auction will continue on Thursday, or if the ECB will take another short break to line up investors once more.
The total value of the six Hundred franchises sold so far is around £775 million, meaning around £380 million will be spread through the game. As it stands, each non-host county is in line for as much as £20 million in a one-off payment, while each host will earn around £14 million from central payments.
04/02
HARDLY ORIGINALS as IPL's RPSG bags their third choice but the Manchester franchise are likely to be one of the first to change names, after RPSG bought a 70% stake in total. Manchester Super Giants, MSG mmm tasty.
Simon Heffer.
London Daily Telegraph.
Monday, 3 February 2025.
PTG 4756-22812.
Who will The Trent Rockets get into bed with, the Greek Oligarch or some other billionaire group? Whoever it is Notts will need the money up front , something that might deter certain investors.
Hundred auction raising scarcely believable sums for event in its infancy
Great news for county balance sheets with value of competition set to come in at £800million — but will it be a good result for investors in the longer term?
Friday January 31 2025, 7.44pm, The Times
Often described as cricket’s Brexit, given how it has split opinion, the Hundred will produce an immediate financial dividend the likes of which the Brexiteers could only dream. After an astonishing bid valuing the London Spirit franchise at close to £300million on Friday, the eventual value of the entire tournament could come in at about £800million, producing an immediate windfall for each first-class county of between £10-12million, for the minority stakes that have been sold off.
London was the jewel in the Hundred’s crown, and Lord’s the most glittering host venue of them all, its name and cachet the only possible reason why the tech titans from America have ventured about £145million for 49 per cent of its franchise. The phrase “after the Lord Mayor’s show” came to mind for Cardiff, who nevertheless followed up with a still impressive bid from the owners of Washington Freedom of about £39million for their 49 per cent.
An £800million valuation for the Hundred would be scarcely believable for a competition in its infancy, for franchises with nascent balance sheets and uncertain future revenues, as well as for cash-strapped counties who will have a chance to repair their own balance sheets — if not their business models — now. Whether it will be a good result for investors remains to be seen, but, as suggested last week, it is a bet on the resilience of the global sports market and the direction of cricket to come.
In that sense, the Hundred will have delivered on the intentions of its architects, Tom Harrison and Colin Graves, which were focused resolutely on the bottom line. It was always about the money. Forget the talk of a new audience, the concept of the Hundred was, first and foremost, a hard-headed business decision designed to create non-member-owned entities, through which private investment could flow into English cricket for the first time.
And that was a perfectly rational position to take, by the way, the inevitable ructions to come between old and new, notwithstanding. With virtually every other cricketing nation attracting private investment, the competition for talent was likely to get more expensive. That, and the fear of declining interest and television revenues for bilateral international cricket, encouraged the ECB to want to control more of its destiny in-house.
So any judgment of the outcome of this sale process, has to focus primarily on the money as well. Sure, franchises want the right fit and Richard Thompson, the ECB chairman, has said he wants a variety of ownership — unlike South Africa, whose franchise tournament has become IPL-lite — but the final amount matters above all, because that was the overwhelming reason for it.
And after two days of the auction, the coffers have been filling up. The four lots of 49 per cent each of the Oval, Lord’s, Cardiff and Birmingham have been sold for just shy of £300million in total. Three of the four winning bidders are non-IPL, leaving some of the key IPL players, such as the Sun group, and Sanjiv Goenka’s RPSG group, to get involved for Manchester, Leeds and Nottingham next week.
But what constitutes a good financial outcome? In November 2022, the private equity firm, Bridgepoint, made a speculative offer of £400million for the entire tournament, which could be fairly taken as a minimum acceptable figure for the value of any sale thereafter.
In late 2022, on England’s tour of Pakistan, Thompson set a much higher benchmark when responding to the Bridgepoint news. “We would need to think very long and hard if we were to sell four or five weeks of the English summer to a third party,” he said. “What we won’t do is be opportunistic. We’ll think things through and we won’t sell the game short. Lucknow Super Giants, one team in the IPL, sold for a billion. One team. That should establish a benchmark of value. I think we’ve got a long way to go before we do something,” he said.
Thompson’s “long time” duly became two years, and it is likely that the result will sit closer to a billion-pound marker than to Bridgepoint’s. Once contracts are signed and sealed — an exclusivity period will follow now — it will, in any event, be a very sizeable windfall that has come to English cricket — although the extent of the outlay also means it more likely the investors will want to call the shots as well.
With the arrival of private money, English cricket has taken a radical, irreversible new direction. That the debate will continue, was evidenced on social media on Thursday, when two former England cricketers, Michael Vaughan and Jack Russell, jousted about what it all means for the county game, with Vaughan arguing the money will help its survival and Russell calling it a short-term fix. What happens, Russell wondered, when this money runs out?
There is so much that is yet uncertain. How wisely, for example, will the non-host counties use the money? How much influence will the new investors look to exert as they try to recoup these enormous sums? For now, ECB and the architects of the Hundred can reflect on things with some satisfaction: they created a new competition to raise money for the English game and that is exactly what it has done. As one disappointed potential investor said to me on Friday: for the ECB, this week has been “a very good result”.
Google and Microsoft chiefs invest £147m in Lord’s Hundred franchise
Satya Nadella and Sundar Pichai part of tech consortium who emerged victorious after three-hour bidding war that also involved Man United co-owner Avram Glazer
Friday January 31 2025, 5.00pm, The Times
A 49 per cent share of the Lord’s Hundred franchise has been sold to a consortium of Silicon Valley tech giants for £147million after a fierce three-hour bidding war.
The consortium, which includes the chief executives of Google and Microsoft, will pay 2½ times as much as the Oval team fetched at an auction on Thursday afternoon. It means the ECB has already raised almost £300million from the equity sale of Hundred teams.
The auction took place between four bidders — RPSG, the owners of Lucknow Super Giants in the IPL, the Silicon Valley tech consortium, the Manchester United co-owner Avram Glazer, and Cain International, who have a stake in Chelsea FC. Bids were taken every few minutes from the prospective investors although it is understood that it came down to a bidding war between RPSG and the tech consortium, with the price going up by about £3million every 15 minutes until eventually RSPG dropped out of the race.
MCC will be the majority owners of the team and it is understood to not be selling on any more of its stake. It will work with the new investors on cricketing and marketing operations and it is probable there will be a change in the name of the team, called London Spirit at present, from 2026 onwards to reflect the new ownership.
The consortium comprises a group of 11 senior executives using their own money and includes the chief executive of Microsoft, Satya Nadella, who was born in Hyderabad in India but now has American citizenship. Nadella, 47, took charge at Microsoft in 2014.
It also includes Sundar Pichai, 52, the chief executive of Google who was born in Madurai in India before moving to the United States to study at Stanford University, and Shantanu Narayen, the chief executive of Adobe, another Indian-American businessman. Nikesh Arora, formerly a senior executive at Google who has an estimated personal net wealth of $1.5billion, is also involved alongside Satyan Gajwani, the co-founder of Major League Cricket and vice-chairman of Times Internet, and Egon Durban, the chief executive of Silver Lake Management.
In the second part of Friday’s auction, another Indian-American businessman paid about £39million for 49 per cent of Welsh Fire, the Cardiff-based franchise.
Sanjay Govil already owns Washington Freedom, a Major League Cricket (MLC) franchise. His investment valued the whole of Welsh Fire at about £80milllion. Govil’s Washington-based team won the American T20 competition last year with a strong Australian spine: Ricky Ponting as coach, Steve Smith as captain, and Travis Head as the player of the season.
Stakes in the four remaining Hundred franchises will be auctioned off next week.
The ECB hoped to raise about £300million from the sale of 49 per cent of each of the eight teams in the Hundred but are on course to exceed that by some way, with Manchester Originals, Northern Superchargers, Trent Rockets and Southern Brave all still to be sold. The auction for the Old Trafford, Headingley and Trent Bridge franchises will take place on Monday, with Hampshire a week later on February 10.
There will now be a period of exclusivity during which the finer details of the contracts will be negotiated with the new investors, including whether the money they paid for the franchises will be handed over in one go to the ECB or whether payments will be spread over the next three to five years.
From the 49 per cent equity sale, the first £275million is split between the 18 first-class counties, the MCC and 10 per cent goes to the recreational game. Then the profits raised between £275million and £425million are split only between the 11 counties who do not host international cricket and the recreational game; anything over £425million is again split between the 18 counties and the MCC meaning that the non-host counties could be in line for a windfall of more than £20million from the sale.
Jaw-dropping Hundred auction stuns critics and catapults English cricket to a new level
Nick Hoult
Domestic game changes forever in Mayfair as millions come flooding in to give some of the world’s richest men a slice of the pie
In an office block in Mayfair’s Berkeley Square, English cricket changed forever on Friday. It was at the marbled London headquarters of American investment bankers the Raine Group that some of the world’s richest businessmen fought fiercely for stakes in the Hundred and money rained down on the English game.
Counties can now expect an immediate windfall of around £11 million each and grass-roots cricket an injection of £40 million after 49 per cent stakes in four of the eight teams – London Spirit (Lord’s), Oval Invincibles, Welsh Fire and Birmingham Phoenix – were sold for £280 million. It shows the allure of English cricket’s heritage. To be associated with Lord’s, the Oval and Edgbaston means something and should boost the game’s self-confidence.
Officials of the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) cannot believe the sums of money. Earlier this week they were nervously briefing to lower expectations. Now they can celebrate a bulging pot of gold that will protect county cricket for decades, if spent wisely.
Staggered ECB executives could not believe what they were witnessing as a bidding war for the Lord’s-based London Spirit broke out between the winning consortium of Silicon Valley moguls and the owners of the Indian Premier League’s Lucknow franchise. From a starting bid of £60 million for the 49 per cent stake on offer, the Spirit were eventually sold for £145 million after three hours of intense auctioneering with the price rocketing by £3 million every 15 minutes.
After the Ambani family bought the Oval Invincibles on Thursday, American football legend and investor Tom Brady added Birmingham to his portfolio and the chief executives of Google, Adobe and Microsoft teamed up to buy London Spirit. English cricket can now tap into world-leading business expertise and innovation as it looks to expand the game to new audiences who consume content differently.
English cricket is a small village, rarely does it open its doors to new money, new ideas and new people. ECB chairmen usually serve their apprenticeships in the shires. Now the game has a different dynamic that is exciting, but there will be inevitable pinch points and clashes of interest that need to be managed correctly. Counties will have to accept new partners and the ECB deal with rich, powerful men used to having their own way. It will take strong leadership and goodwill from both sides.
English cricket owes a huge debt of gratitude to Colin Graves, Tom Harrison and Sanjay Patel. Graves was the ECB chairman who bullied and cajoled the counties into accepting a new competition. Patel was the marketing man who came up with the format and Harrison the chief executive who made it happen. All copped flak, sometimes brutally personal, for trying to change English cricket.
They did not always help themselves but from nothing they created an asset for English cricket to sell and protect itself from relying solely on the international game for income. Bilateral series outside those between the big three will not finance the English game for much longer. A new tournament was needed and sadly for the traditionalists, young people, the broadcasters and sponsors were put off by county brands seen as old, traditional and stuffy.
The Hundred concept was invented to delineate the new competition from the Twenty20 Blast and, ironically, satisfy the two men who run the game now.
Richard Thompson and Richard Gould were fierce opponents of a new competition because they felt it would emasculate the counties and harm Surrey, the club they were elected or paid to run. But once they moved from opposition benches to actually running the show at the ECB, they shifted and realised it would be their job to take the Graves-Harrison-Patel vision forward and bring in some actual money.
The game got lucky. It needed Graves’ Yorkshire bluntness to force through change. But it was the more diplomatic skills of Richards that brought everyone together behind a strategy for selling it off because, in the end, the Hundred was always all about money. It could not be squandered.
On his second day as chair in 2022, Thompson was offered around £400 million by private equity firm Bridgepoint to buy 75 per cent of the whole competition off the ECB and take options on each team.
Thompson was under pressure from the counties to cash in but did not want to cede control of the prime weeks of the summer to an outside agency. Instead the two Richards set about finding a compromise, taking people with them rather than arm-twisting.
By splitting the equity 49 per cent to the board, 51 to the host club and splitting the money across the board it reached an agreement acceptable to a group of counties who rarely agree on anything.
They had opposition. Not that long ago, Lalit Modi, founder of the IPL, called the ECB’s sale a ‘Ponzi scheme’ but his fellow Indian investors have rushed in to buy.
As one senior ECB executive said: “This will have a profound impact on the fabric of the game.” Counties can pay off debt, and apply to invest in capital-expenditure projects that have a real business benefit. Clubs like Kent and Worcestershire can seriously consider whether they should move away from grounds built in the Victorian era and lacking in the modern world.
There is no reason why a serious state school cricket project cannot be funded by the ECB, the grass-roots clubs and leagues receive a shot of investment to improve community facilities and the women’s game.
The powerful, connected new owners can lure the best players to light up the Hundred and grow the tournament into the second-best franchise league in the world behind the IPL.
Doing so will help them receive a return on their investment. It is hard to see at this stage how that will happen. Broadcast rights are not going up because pay television companies are strapped for cash. You cannot expand the grounds to pack in more fans and the owners only lease the stadiums for four home games. But they are betting that the Hundred will expand as international bilateral cricket reduces and that is an alarm bell for many to worry for the future. There are always pitfalls when new money flows in.
Not that long ago domestic cricket teams were chaired by a well-heeled local businessman who loved the game. For years Derbyshire were run by Don Amott, whose family money came from a caravan park just off the A50 between Derby and Uttoxeter.
Now the chief executives of Microsoft, Google, an iconic American sportsman and Asia’s richest family have stakes in the future of English cricket. A nightingale definitely sang for its supper in Berkeley Square this week.
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Welsh Go West
Tech consortium buys Lord's stake
30/01
Tom Brady and Asia’s richest family pump £100m into English cricket
Will MacPherson 30/01
English cricket raised more than £100 million on the first day of the Hundred franchise sale after stakes were sold to Asia’s richest family and the Tom Brady-backed American investment fund that owns Birmingham City.
The England and Wales Cricket Board is selling its 49 per cent stake in each of the eight Hundred teams. Oval Invincibles were the first team sold, with the Ambanis, who own Reliance Industries and Indian Premier League team Mumbai Indians, winning the auction.
The franchise was valued at £123 million and the Ambanis have bought a 49 per cent stake, partnering with Surrey CCC, meaning around £61 million will be distributed in the English game as a result.
Next to be sold were Edgbaston-based Birmingham Phoenix, who are understood to have been bought by Knighthead Capital, which has owned Birmingham City alongside Brady, the NFL legend, since 2023.
The host county of each Hundred franchise retain 51 per cent to do what they please with: keep it, or sell some or all of it. Warwickshire are understood to have kept hold of their 51 per cent, with the Birmingham franchise valued at a little over £80 million, which means around £40 million goes to the English game.
On Friday, Lord’s-based London Spirit and Cardiff’s Welsh Fire will be sold. Spirit are expected to fetch the highest price of the eight teams, with four potential investors in the running. They are: Manchester United co-chairman Avram Glazer’s Lancer Capital; Cain International, which is led by Chelsea director Jonathan Goldstein and backed by the football club’s joint-owner, Todd Boehly; Sanjiv Goenka, owner of IPL team Lucknow Super Giants; a Silicon Valley consortium including Sundar Pichai (Google CEO), Satya Nadella (Microsoft CEO), Shantanu Narayen (Adobe CEO), Egon Durban (Silver Lake CEO) and led by Nikesh Arora (Palo Alto CEO).
The Silicon Valley group were beaten to the Oval team by the Ambanis. So were CVC Capital Partners, the private investment firm that has a share in the Six Nations among other investments. CVC was also in the mix to buy Birmingham Phoenix.
The winning bidders now enter a six-week period of exclusivity with the host venue and ECB to thrash out the details. The 2025 Hundred will largely be unaffected but the 2026 edition is likely to look and feel markedly different, including in the branding and names of teams.
Mumbai Indians have won five of the 17 IPL seasons, making them the joint-most successful franchise. Their brand has already spread to franchise competitions beyond the IPL, with teams in South Africa’s SA20 (MI Cape Town), UAE’s ILT20 (MI Emirates), the Major League Cricket (MI New York) in the United States, and India’s Women’s Premier League.
Mumbai’s tycoon owner is Mukesh Ambani, who was valued at £119.5 billion last year. The Ambanis will now enter into a partnership with Surrey. It is understood that powerbrokers at Surrey have agreed to share cricketing control as part of the deal. They had initially been keen to retain control of all cricketing and branding matters, as part of their 51 per cent stake.
After London Spirit and Welsh Fire on Friday, Manchester Originals are due to be sold on Monday, Northern Superchargers on Tuesday, and Trent Rockets on Wednesday. The final team, Southampton-based Southern Brave, will be sold last. They are a unique case as their controlling county, Hampshire, are owned by GMR, the Indian co-owner of Delhi Capitals. GMR is the strong favourite to buy the ECB’s 49 per cent share.
Each host venue has taken at least two potential investors through to the final round. In the case of counties with two potential options in the final round, the investors table a final, binding bid. The highest wins. In the case of hosts who have taken more than two investors through to the final round, there is an auction between the three or four interested parties. Bids are placed in 15-minute intervals, until the highest wins. Each bid is binding.
The proceeds of the sale of the 49 per cent will be spread between the counties, the MCC and the recreational game. If the hosts sell any of their 51 per cent, they keep the majority of the proceeds, with 10 per cent going to the recreational game and 10 per cent spread between the other counties. The Raine Group and Deloitte, who have advised on the sale, will also receive fees.
ECB chairman Richard Thompson has previously said that the governing body does not want the sale of the Hundred to lead to an “IPL takeover” as is the case in the SA20, in which all six teams are owned by Indian franchises. The ECB is keen for around half of the Hundred teams to be owned by IPL teams.
At this stage, the owners of Chennai Super Kings and Kolkata Knights Riders, two of the most significant IPL teams who have also popped up in franchise leagues elsewhere, have withdrawn. This stems from a belief that the Hundred is overpriced, a frustration with an ECB sales process that has changed regularly, and difficulties with the “participation agreement”, key documentation that has been a bone of contention for a number of investors. CSK are unlikely to re-enter the process, but insiders believe that KKR could come back into contention next week.
Who are the Ambanis?
Last year, the rich and famous from across the world flooded to India for the different stages of the wedding of Anant Ambani to Radhika Merchant.
Mark Zuckerberg and Bill Gates were among the guests and Rihanna performed at the event of the year, which became a definitive display of the Ambani family’s power and wealth. It is estimated to have cost around half a billion dollars.
Anant is the younger son of Mukesh Ambani, the billionaire owner of Reliance Industries, whose businesses include energy, petrochemicals, retail, entertainment and mass media. This has made him the richest man in Asia and the ninth-richest in the world. In October last year the tycoon was valued at $119.5 billion [£95.87 billion]. And now, he and his family are part-owners of the Hundred franchise Oval Invincibles.
The Ambani family have been familiar to fans of cricket since 2008, when they bought Mumbai Indians, the joint-most successful team in the history of the Indian Premier League. The family business has since expanded to other T20 leagues, in Dubai, New York and Cape Town. They have added Oval Invincibles to their portfolio, although having purchased a 49 per cent share, they will not wield as much control in London as they do elsewhere. They will have to work alongside Surrey, English cricket’s wealthiest county.
Mukesh Ambani is 67 and has been married to his wife Nita since 1985. She is a prominent figure, alongside their eldest son Akash, in the running of the family’s cricket operations. Akash, who is three years older than Anant, has a twin sister, Isha.
As well as many other lavish properties around the world, the Ambanis own Stoke Park, the country club in Buckinghamshire, which they bought for £57 million in 2021.
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Will Macpherson - Daily Telegraph 28/01
The Hundred sale is entering its endgame, with stakes in four of the franchises to be sold this week, and the remaining four next week.
English cricket is looking to raise hundreds of millions of pounds by selling stakes in each of the eight men’s and women’s teams in the divisive short-form competition that will enter its fifth season this summer.
A months-long process now reaches its third and final stage, with potential investors to make final offers to the England and Wales Cricket Board and each team’s host venue in an auction process. Here is everything you need to know.
What is for sale?
The ECB will sell 49 per cent of each Hundred franchise, and hand the remaining 51 per cent to the host county to keep or sell. So, up for sale is between 49 per cent and 100 per cent of each team.
How will the sale work?
Each host venue has taken at least two potential investors into the final round and some as many as four. In the case of counties with two potential options in the final round, the investors will table a final, binding bid. The highest wins.
Those hosts who have taken more than two potential investors through will see an auction between the three or four interested parties. Eventually, the highest bid will win. Each bid will be binding.
The introduction of an auction is a late change. Previously, all teams were expected to be sold to best and final sealed bids, with the highest winning.
In what order will the teams be sold, and why?
The order the franchises will be sold in has been a matter of much intrigue among host venues in recent weeks. The New York-based Raine Group is one of the ECB’s advisers on the sale, and has come up with the batting order, taking into account which teams have duplicate investors, and an attempt to maximise value.
On Thursday, Oval Invincibles will be the first team to be sold, followed by Birmingham Phoenix. On Friday, a stake in London Spirit will be sold, then Cardiff-based Welsh Fire.
There will be a break over the weekend, before the remaining teams are sold next week.
The order is expected to be: Manchester Originals, then Headingley-based Northern Superchargers, then Trent Rockets of Nottingham.
The final sale will be of Southern Brave, who are in a unique position because their host county, Hampshire, are already privately owned, by the GMR group, co-owner of IPL team Delhi Capitals. It is expected that GMR will pick up the ECB’s 49 pert cent share, thus taking full control of Southern Brave.
Which investors are understood to be bidding for which teams?
Oval Invincibles
Surrey have been clear that they want to keep hold of their 51 per cent, and retain control of cricketing operations and the name of the team. Bidding for the Invincibles are the Ambanis, Asia’s richest family who own Mumbai Indians, and a Silicon Valley consortium that includes Sundar Pichai (Google CEO), Satya Nadella (Microsoft CEO), Shantanu Narayen (Adobe CEO), Egon Durban (Silver Lake CEO) and is led by Nikesh Arora, CEO of Palo Alto. Private investment firm CVC has also shown strong interest.
Birmingham Phoenix
Warwickshire have also preferred to keep their 51 per cent, and run the cricket. Knighthead Capital, which owns Birmingham City alongside former NFL quarterback Tom Brady, is the favourite, but there has also been strong interest from CVC and the owners of Aston Villa.
London Spirit
The owners of Spirit will partner with Marylebone Cricket Club, which held a members vote to confirm its involvement in the process. The Lord’s factor means Spirit are expected to fetch the highest offers.
MCC is understood to have overlooked the Ambanis, but has one IPL team still in the running, Lucknow Super Giants and their owner, Sanjiv Goenka. Also in the mix are the Silicon Valley consortium Cain International – led by Chelsea director Jonathan Goldstein and backed by the club’s joint-owner Todd Boehly – and Lancer Capital, for whom Manchester United co-chairman Avram Glazer serves as chairman (Lancer own Desert Vipers in the UAE’s ILT20).
Welsh Fire
Glamorgan have declared that they will also only be selling 49 per cent. Among those interested are the owner of Major League Cricket’s Washington Freedom, Sanjay Govil, and Capri International, which owns UP Warriorz in India’s Women’s Premier League.
Manchester Originals
Lancashire have aimed for an IPL or established franchise cricket partner, and have Mumbai Indians and Lucknow Super Giants in the mix. Originals are expected to fetch the third-highest price, after the London teams.
Northern Superchargers
Yorkshire are interested in selling a good chunk – and perhaps all – of their 51 per cent in order to pay off debts and invest in infrastructure, making them an attractive option for an IPL team looking for full control. Sunrisers Hyderabad are among those interested. So were Chennai Super Kings, although some insiders believe they have withdrawn from the process following disagreements with the ECB over the participation agreement.
Trent Rockets
Rockets are also thought to be prepared to sell some of their share, and are looking to the IPL. Sunrisers and Washington Freedom are in the shake-up there, too.
Southern Brave
Overwhelmingly expected to sell to GMR, which already owns Hampshire.
How much will be raised, and where will the money go?
The ECB say they initially set a private benchmark of £350 million for 100 per cent of all teams. After the first round of bidding, in October, Telegraph Sport reported that 100 per cent of the eight teams had been valued at more than £650 million. Insiders now believe that anything less than £500 million as a final figure – ie all eight sets of 49 per cent, plus some of the hosts’ shares – would represent a disappointment.
So the number will be striking, but some critics of the ECB believe a simpler process could have raised even more.
As for dividing the proceeds...
The proceeds of the 49 per cent sold would be split as follows:
- the first 10 per cent to the recreational game, with the rest shared by the counties
- of the counties’ share, the first £275 million shared 19 ways (between the 18 first-class counties and MCC)
- the next £150 million shared between the 11 non-hosts
- all proceeds above £425 million shared 19 ways once more
The proceeds of the 51 per cent would be split as follows:
- the first 10 per cent to the recreational game
- the next 80 per cent to the host county
- the final 10 per cent split by the other 17 counties and MCC
What happens next?
The winning bidders and the host counties will iron out the details of their deals, with some of the teams possibly changing names and colours.
For 2025 – which the ECB is calling a “transitional season” – the Hundred is likely to look largely the same as the previous season, before major change in 2026, when the new owners will have their feet under the table.
Investors Frustrated by ECB Goalmouth Shift
IPL Investors Losing Interest in Stakes media rights seen as being over valued?
They're calling it future proofing without knowing what wists and turns the future holds...
Why Hundred sale is huge bet on future of global sporting market
English cricket faces a very significant moment with a large windfall about to land, but the upward trajectory of the investment cannot be guaranteed with markets being so volatile
Wednesday January 22 2025, 4.30pm, The Times Michael Atherton
It remains an indelible image of someone who thought he had won the lottery: a few keepie-uppies (with skill and chutzpah, it must be said), before running half the length of the pitch, slotting the ball into the empty net and raising both arms to the Stretford End. Manchester United v Arsenal, August 19, 1989, the day Michael Knighton thought he had bought the greatest club in the land.
For a snip, too. What does he think now, I wonder, having seen Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s recent investment of more than £1billion for a minority stake in the club? Who knows whether Knighton saw the future coming fast and that there was a one-way bet to be made, but in any event he failed to raise the £10million needed to buy the chairman Martin Edwards’s majority share of the club. Knighton: the man who won the lottery, but lost the ticket.
While the bursting of the dotcom bubble, the global financial crisis and Covid have reminded us since then that financial markets tend to go up incrementally and fall precipitously, sport has been on a blinding run for 30 years — a one-way elevator to the heavens. Through the investment of satellite television companies and, more latterly, through wealthy individuals, private equity firms and sovereign wealth funds, the value of the global sports market has suffered no such setbacks.
Cricket has only been sipping from the punchbowl, in relative terms. Following the hiatus after Kerry Packer, it was only with the advent of the short-lived Indian Cricket League, and then the Indian Premier League, that private money arrived in earnest. English cricket joined later still, the sorry Allen Stanford saga notwithstanding: Hampshire’s sale to India’s GMR group last year was the first investment into county cricket by a non-English private entity and the next fortnight should bring the final steps towards formalising investments into the Hundred franchises.
This week, the ECB and the host counties have been whittling down the potential investors to a final list. A prospective investor is allowed to bid for multiple franchises at once, and each franchise has now settled on their final two or three best bidders. It is an eclectic mix of potential suitors: IPL owners, private equity, tech consortiums and wealthy individuals make up the list.
Next week, day-by-day, what those with knowledge of the sale call a “cascade” process will begin in order to finalise the pairings of seller and buyer. The ECB’s shares (49 per cent) in the most valuable offerings — the two London franchises — are likely to be auctioned off first. Disappointed bidders who are on multiple lists will be given the opportunity to go back into the auction to invest in their chosen teams further down the line — Manchester, Leeds, Cardiff, etc — that might be perceived to be of lower value.
Whether the host venues intend to sell off any of their 51 per cent stakes will be a factor in the scale of the final bids, as well as the sequential nature of the bidding. A club like Yorkshire, for example, will be likely to sell their 51 per cent as well, because of their financially straitened circumstances, and IPL franchises may jump at the chance for full ownership, rather than the minority ownership they will get in partnership with the Oval or Lord’s, say, who have indicated an unwillingness to sell their own shares.
The ultimate expectation now is that more money will be raised than previously anticipated. A baseline figure was provided by Bridgepoint’s putative bid for the competition two years ago, when it was reported that they made an offer that would have valued the competition at £400million. The eventual sums are likely to top that mark.
But how to value 49 per cent (or possibly more if the host venues want to sell some or all of their gifted 51 per cent) of a recently created franchise? (The Hundred only launched in 2021.) What are these investors buying? There are no hard assets to speak of — the grounds are owned by the counties; players are on short-term contracts; there is little on the balance sheets by way of profits so far to justify high multiples; and future revenues are uncertain.
From the investors’ perspective, a number of factors are at play, despite these uncertainties. For IPL franchises, it is a chance to spend some of their now healthy profits from the Indian competition in a diversified way. It is a chance to further embed themselves in what might be seen as a global franchise network, ready for the day when that takes precedence over bilateral international cricket. Some IPL owners now have cricket assets across the globe — in India, South Africa, UAE, the Caribbean, United States — and want to add England to the list.
Among them, there are wealthy families for whom cricket is a love and the chance to get a foot in the door of a place like Lord’s is too good an opportunity to miss. For them, risks are acceptable, given the scarcity value of what is on offer. For private equity firms, the sums can only make sense in the context of a bet upon the future direction of the game, where domestic rather than international cricket drives the calendar.
Their outlay is also a bet on the future direction of the global sporting market: backing a force that has been unstoppable for a generation. Whether the business and value of sport can continue its upward trajectory at the pace it has set for the past 30-odd years, since Knighton’s attempted buyout of United, is doubtful, but many have been calling the top of the market for a long time to no avail.
Sport in that sense is a unique investment and works to its own rules. Lots of questions remain to be answered as to how happily the traditional parts of the game (member-owned counties) will be able to sit alongside these more market-driven franchises. Nevertheless, as a large windfall prepares to land, what cannot be debated is that a very significant moment for the English game has arrived.
18/01
A new ICC sanctioned T20 Franchise competition for those "quiet months" of July and August in Scotland, Ireland and Netherlands. It's bound to interest some of those white ball specialists that fall short of the H*ndred draft.
FLEMING JUMPS BRAVE
Will MacPhersonIPL super coach Stephen Fleming has left his role with Southern Brave in a blow to the Hundred ahead of a seminal fifth season.
Legendary former New Zealand captain Fleming, 51, has coached Southampton-based Brave for the past two seasons, in which they finished third and second respectively.
As a coach he is best known for winning the IPL five times with Chennai Super Kings, whom he has led since 2009. He has also worked for the Super Kings’ franchise teams in both the United States (Major League Cricket’s Texas Super Kings) and South Africa (the SA20’s Joburg Super Kings). He is currently coaching the latter and is expected to work in MLC in 2025, which could clash with the Hundred.
Last year Hampshire were bought by GMR, the co-owners of Delhi Capitals, effectively giving them a controlling stake (51 per cent) of Southern Brave. Fleming has not coached a team owned by a current IPL franchise other than CSK before, but it is understood that he is leaving Brave for family reasons.
GMR’s control over Southern Brave is likely to grow in the coming months, with GMR favourites to buy the 49 per cent stake in the team who the England and Wales Cricket Board are in the process of selling. The sales process is entering its final stage, which will see GMR and at least one other bidder make a best and final offer for the minority share in Southern Brave. The ECB are insistent that if GMR is to buy the 49 per cent it must be at market rate, because the proceeds are spread throughout the game.
It is understood that Adi Birrell, the South African who coaches Hampshire, is likely to lead the team on an interim basis this year. Like Fleming, Birrell also coaches in the SA20, with two-time champions Sunrisers Eastern Cape. Southern Brave will make a call on a permanent head coach when the Hundred sales process is complete.
At that point, Fleming could return to the Hundred – perhaps even with a CSK-owned team. They are among the IPL franchises jostling for a stake in the team, including Headingley-based Northern Superchargers. Executives from both Yorkshire and Nottinghamshire, who are selling Trent Rockets, were in India last week meeting franchises.
Hundred teams are currently working on the retention and release of players before this year’s draft, which will take place in the second half of March. This year, there have been significant changes in the men’s competition, with teams able to sign one overseas player directly before the draft, and a rise in pay, so the top category is worth £200,000. Teams can retain a maximum of 10 of their squad.
It is understood that London Spirit are in final negotiations for Kane Williamson to become their captain in an arrangement that could also see him play for Middlesex this summer. It is also likely that some local Spirit players (such as Liam Dawson, who is wanted by Welsh Fire, and Dan Lawrence) could leave.
One player likely to stay at Southern Brave is James Vince, who confirmed Telegraph Sport’s report that he would be sitting out the first-class season with Hampshire this year to focus on white-ball cricket and fulfil a deal with Karachi Kings in the Pakistan Super League. Vince has stepped down as Hampshire’s club captain, and revealed that repeated attacks on his family home have seen him relocate to Dubai.
15/01
From Lancashire CCC to their members (make of it what you will)
The Club has made the decision to delay the next Members’ Forum, previously scheduled for Tuesday 21 January. This is due to the ECB pushing back the third phase of the Hundred investment process. To provide as best an update as possible for Members, the latest Forum will take place when the third round is complete.
With that in mind, the Forum has been rescheduled for Monday 3 February and will take place in the Members' Suite at Emirates Old Trafford between 18:00 - 20:00. The evening will include tabletop sessions where Members will be invited to share their feedback on specified topics relating to The Hundred investment process. Key things that we would like to discuss include the nature of our preferred partner, the potential financial outcome and most importantly the potential use of any funds generated.
There is no requirement for Members to pre-register their attendance. Complimentary car parking will be available to those attending the event on a first-come, first-served basis.
Lancashire Cricket
More delays represent a set back for Trent Bridge PLC, if their pavilion development financing plans remain with all eggs in the Rocket investor's basket.
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It's well over two months since Ms Pursehouse last pretended to include Members in the decision making process of selling the family silver to some random deep pocketed individual: do we conclude that the deal has been done or that the deal has fallen through? The latter might explain why no work has started at the pavilion end of Trent Bridge, however.
The favoured usual suspects in the media have been unusually tight-lipped on the sale of the cursed competition recently also...
81 NOT OUT
ReplyDeleteNo news - is good news ?
So they say .
Members should be given an update on the latest Pavilion plans and aprox start date .
Why the silence from those who promised to keep us up to date ?
Tis strange. Hoping Pavilion still as is for 2025 season, dreaming it may be so for many more years.
ReplyDelete81 NOT OUT
ReplyDeleteThis delay in commencing the big Pavilion renovation will be affecting Membership renewals? If the necessary building work is not going to start for a few months does it mean Notts Members will still be able to use the Pavilion during the 2025 season ? What is the reason for the delay I wonder? Is it anything to do with the sale by the ECB of the 100 Comp? Notts could no doubt well use a hefty cash injection from their promised share.
As far as I understand (that's from a place where there's a void of any new information), the pavilion project will take 15 months to complete, once they actually start. There is always a delay with completion of these projects so the club are now in a tricky situation where they have a decide between finishing the project ASAP (building work disrupting both the 2025 and 2026 seasons) or delaying again until after the 2025 season and only disprupting the 2026 season.
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ReplyDeleteThanks for the clarification update Dave . Whichever way you look at it there is going to be a pretty big reduction in income for Notts ccc . It’s bound to affect the money available to attract new highly paid players . Notts may have to concentrate more on bringing on the good players they already have in the Second 11 . Better opportunities for some who may be given a chance to shine earlier than expected in past years!?
Not a bad thing Notts only bringing in their own developed players. End this paying for other counties hard work. Let's get back to Notts being a nice place.
ReplyDeleteI think all would agree with that, although you'd have to check with Mr Newell to find out his opinions.
DeleteWow ! July and August now the "quiet months", how things have changed !
ReplyDeleteDodo ?
ReplyDeletehttps://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cricket/franchise-cricket
81 NOT OUT
ReplyDeleteWHAT A CARVE UP !?!?
Those few words seem very apt when you read Will Macphersons 28th Jan article . He speculates that Trent Rockets will sell a percentage of their controlling 51% . Anyone any idea of the percentage Notts will let go ?
Notts ccc what happened to your once proud and honourable reputation
ReplyDeletePride has been living in the gutter for three years and honour has just left the building. Reputation is shattered.
DeleteNotts CCC are about to agree to sell multi million £ club assets (49% of Trent Rockets) without consulting their members.
ReplyDeleteI have chosen not to renew my membership.
Actually, the ECB are about sell 49% control of the Trent franchise to a "preferred bidder" of Notts CCC's choice without any consultation with members or even gaining opinion on what might constitute a "preferred bidder". What fraction of NCCC 's 51% control of their franchise is for sale hasn't been raised and in previous briefings members have been assured by the chair and CEO that no control of any part of the "Trent Bridge family" will be lost. Do you trust the CEO?
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ReplyDeleteREFERENCE THE CLUBS CONTROLLING 51%.
I can easily see the dominoes falling one by one . The pressure to sell some or part of it will be too great and too great a temptation . Let’s hope all the vast amount of “ new money” coming into the game isn’t simply swallowed up paying higher and higher mega salaries to the players . It’s happened in football on a big scale . Players earning vast amounts but the Clubs themselves are basically skint and in fact owe millions and millions .
Lowest membership take up. I believe.
ReplyDeleteNotes have to sell to fund the pavilion development
ReplyDeleteThere a £3 million shortfall in funding which as more than increased so they will have to raise the extra cash to fund the project j would expect them to sell 5/10% stake
Which would make them the minor shareholder any body in business will tell you that's not a pleasant position to be in
As the majority shareholder makes all the calls going forward Be careful what you wish for
Won't Notts get a 1/19th share of the counties' allocation of funds from the ECB's sale of the 49% stakes, so just over 4% of the combined sale of the 8 franchises' 49%? That's £4M so far.
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ReplyDeleteCannot some of the 49% share out Notts receive be put towards the new Pavilion?
Losing control of one’s destiny is never a good thing . SURELY NOTTS MEMBERS SHOULD BE BALLOTED TO SEEK OUT THEIR VIEWS AS TO WHAT TO DO WITH THE ALL IMPORTANT 51%?
Even just selling 2% of it would alter things - and perhaps not in a way Notts/ Members would like .
Once the genie is out of the bottle it ain’t going back in !
It’s quite obvious that cricket seasons from 2026 will have a radical new look . I will be surprised if the 18 Counties are not down to 8 or10 four day games per season . You just know it’s coming !
The 3 directors of Trent Rockets Ltd are the CEOs of Notts, Derbyshire and Leicestershire.
DeleteHow these decisions are made, is all Greek to me.
As a Notts member I don't feel as though I have been consulted with regards to any green light to sell anything owned by the Notts club, let alone how a preferred bidder might look. So how can Notts CCC sell any part of their stake in the franchise based at Trent Bridge (the HQ of Notts CCC)?
I would think a percentage of the 49%
Deletesale by the ECB as already been factored in already been promised for the cost of the new pavilion thats why all the talk is Notts selling a percentage to the new successful bidder to raise cash
& Lets remember we don't have a great track
Record regarding previous projects
There will be no consolation all will be announced at the AGM
After the deals been done
The whole thing is a deep betrayal of people who have stood by cricket in it's darkest periods.
ReplyDeleteNick Hoult has completely changed his a tune !
ReplyDeleteThe ECB control the narrative and if a journalists wants access...
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ReplyDeletePromised riches can easily change opinions and minds . What is black one day can become white the following day if the carrot is big enough . Let’s hope all the promised millions coming to Notts are spent wisely AFTER the necessary consultations have taken place . We don’t want a second Restaurant SIX fiasco
No consultation about who Notts preferred bidder to sell to...
DeleteNo consultation if Notts will sell any of their 51% stake...
...have taken place.
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DeleteThere is more information coming out of the KREMLIN than Notts ccc HQ theses days.
I find it strange that anyone believes the hierarchy gives the members a moments thought.
DeletePerhaps it is a little naive to think that"the hierachy" would do what they said they'd do.
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ReplyDeleteBIG DAY TODAY IN THE WHOLE HISTORY OF THE CLUB !!??
Who knows who will buy into it and what they intend to do ?
The Members will become irrelevant bystanders?
What will Notts do with the forthcoming riches ??
I hear that Santorini is quiet nice at this time of year
DeleteIndeed, big and terrible day.
ReplyDeleteSong comes to mind:
"Under the spreading George Parr's tree,
I sold you, and you sold me."
Poetic licence, as I know that wonderful tree no more, like the whole of things Notts and the real Trent Bridge, soon.
ReplyDeleteJust not Notts ccc any longer.
DeleteMore like the Newell and Pursehouse fiefdom for the past ten years
DeleteI weep for our lovely old, yes old, pavilion as was.
ReplyDeleteRe Leeds franchise, Yorkshire no more ? City replacing county, the nightmare in full flow.
Judging by the photo on social media this morning, the old pavilion is still stood there in one piece.
DeleteVery good points Dave
DeleteYes it's the ECB selling the 49%
But as previously said I think
The issue is control & we know
Lisa pursestrings just loves control
With chairman andy lost for words like a ventriloquist dummy by her side waiting for is strings to be pulled
It's all brinkmanship & all going on in the barricade disastrous six restaurant
Can Restaurant Six be described as a "restaurant" anymore?
DeleteRestaurant definition: noun
a place where people pay to sit and eat meals that are cooked and served on the premises.
Is there any news on what we are doing, as I thought it was going to be announced on Thursday
ReplyDeleteThe main bidder wants a controlling
ReplyDeleteShareholding the club not keen
That may be because if you hand over the control you may find yourself being replaced as the CEO as well as others at the
rockets by the new owners
It's the ECB or their agents, that are selling the ECB's 49% stake in TR, It might be that TR directors are not so keen on selling any of the 51% NCCC were gifted (by the ECB). The current ethos of the club is to embrace conflicts of interest on the parts of its executives, so why wouldn't they be throwing cold water on any red hot offers that involve a controlling stake. The ECB's agents are duty bound to find the highest bidder to get the best return for all of cricket not just for certain individuals employed by NCCC.
DeleteAlternatively, the delay (if it is a delay) is because they can't find any interested parties - the seven other franchises have soaked up the money from worldwide billionaires willing to bankroll English cricket for the next eight years or so. No one knows where Trent is, it has no identity or any impact on any locale, much like our East Midlands mayor [after google search] Claire Ward to put a name to a faceless face.
DeleteI've been told the average Rocket supporter travels over 50 miles for a game whereas the Blast gets most ticket buyers in from NG2. Trent Rockets could play anywhere!
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ReplyDeleteMy bid for the 49% is on the table.
£100 for the 100 Ball Trent Rockets .
I might increase it if other parties are interested .
Seriously , what’s going on with the delayed bid for the Rockets . Have the main bidders lost interest? Notts need the money ! We need the new Pavilion in order to keep the ground up to 21 st Century demands and standards.
Notts will have around £20Million (maybe more now Yorkshire have sold lock, stock and barrel) coming in from the sale of the other franchises. How much is this pavilion loft conversion projected to cost?
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ReplyDeleteI seem to remember a figure of £8 -£10 million being mentioned . The way things are going ( or NOT going) I can see the Pavilion being out of bounds to Members for TWO seasons instead of the one currently mentioned.
Anybody know what's going on with the rockets all the other franchise sales went as planned
ReplyDeleteThe noise coming out of TB is deafening
But not surprising as it as nothing really to
Do with NCCC
Southern Brave were due to be the last to be announced - a rubber stamp job of a total sell off/out to India of Brave, Hampshire and Hampshire Hawks. The timing of the Trent sell off has proved to be more ambiguous than first suggested. Has it hit a snag? "Nothing to do with Notts CCC" - Notts CCC and their members own 51% of the franchise - not that the members have been granted any say in the proceedings.
DeleteI wouldn't want to invest $Millions and have to work with some people with so many conflicts of interests. I'd want someone dedicated to my not insignificant investment's cause.
DeleteGood question re Rickets !
ReplyDelete81 NOT OUT
ReplyDeleteI heard a rumour that Derbyshire CCC have tabled a bid of over £100 million for 100% control of the Rocket franchise 😻👍🏿🤪
You're very early on the sherry this morning, Vicar
DeleteRe what was once "Surrey", please pass me the bucket.
ReplyDelete81 NOT OUT
ReplyDeleteWILL THE DOMINOES FALL ONE BY ONE ?
Is it better to have the balance of control viz 51% - or pots and pots of money ?
I’m my view and Nottinghamshire CCC STILL Not revealing their preferred bidder and the other 7 teams confirming their new partners in the 100.
ReplyDeleteThis shows 2 things a delay due to investors pulling out or no credible investors or they have nailed down a top investor 🤔 the longer there is no confirmation the more worrying it must be for our CEO With major financial implementations for the new pavilion and the ashes in 2 years
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ReplyDeleteSurely the ECB or Nottsccc will make a statement about what’s going on and the offers on the table ( or the lack of them !’)
This situation has to be resolved quickly for obvious reasons . If Notts have to sell some ( or all) of their 51% , then would there be resignations from the top table ? Would like to be a fly on the wall to hear what is actually being discussed . Of course , the long suffering Members will be the last to know what’s going on ?
If this timing actually represents a delay in the selling off of the ECB's 49% (we don't know what the planned timetable was , cos we are only the plebs), then the delay must be surrounding negotiations about selling some or all of NCCC's 51% in stake and the how that working partnership would then proceed.
DeleteIn the vast consultaion (ha ha) with members, it was stated that hosts have the right to veto investors [https://nottsview.blogspot.com/2024/07/membership-matters-communication-from.html] and I'm half certain that members also got a verbal reassurance that any selling of the NCCC controlling stake would be only after further consultations with the membership.
Will there be a lucrative offer sitting on the table at the AGM, for members to vote on with a show of hands?
Will partly London-based Eldridge Industries be interested in two more percent in the Rocket Franchise?
DeleteIt will be decided this week by hook or by crook this ECB smoke & mirrors process
ReplyDeleteAs been truly shocking there may be only one bid on the table & the ECB will state you will take it
As it will be revealed that's Notts preferred bidders took up other offers earlier in the process most likely leaving Notts with no offer that's more than likely the reason for the delay with the ECB scrambling around to
Find new bidders a totally shocking process leaving nots in no man's land
& ask the question why was Notts the last
In the hat with only the undesirables to choose from that all the others avoided some
Serious questions to be answered by the ECB on there protocol
Paying nearly £40m for a franchise that plays 4 home games a year shows that the 100 is sadly here to stay and will likely grow in size, causing even more damage to what is left of county cricket. Sad times.
ReplyDeleteThe only offer on the table take it as there's nobody else
ReplyDeletePutting a bid in I personally think he's got the rockets 🚀 on the cheap
As the ECB may had no alternative after making a total mess of the bid process
Says in one report that the bid out-bidded one from Kolkata Knight Riders which is a shame as [a name change to] Nottingham Knight Riders would have gone down well in NG2 (not that Rockets fans live in NG2).
DeleteAny post code nerds will be quick to point out the Nottingham Knight area of West Bridgford is actually in NG11 (Ruddington)
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ReplyDeleteAt least it would appear Notts have retained the controlling interest of 51% .
But for how long ?
Two weeks ago I was told by someone that the offer for 49% was £71m. Someone must have had second thoughts.
ReplyDeleteor that bidder had won a bid for another franchise, auctioned earlier in the process. Who decided on the order of lots?
DeleteWho gets the money, please ? Notts, ECB, The Other Counties, or some form of split ?
ReplyDeleteThere's a formula for sharing the ECB's 49% stake in Rockets. Each county will get about £1.7M gross by my reckoning
DeleteThis investment is all predicated on the hundred become a much bigger tournament. In 2024 the IPL involved 74 games in total over a period of more than two months. This is the direction of travel for the hundred.
ReplyDeleteThanks both for info.
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ReplyDeleteLike it or loathe it , the sale of the 100 Ball comp has secured the financial future for most Counties , probably all of them . So that’s very important . It’s an amazing amount of money that has literally been produced out of thin air . What are the franchise buyers ACTUALLY BUYING ?
Must be a bit of a gamble when you consider the various bid amounts . Let’s hope all the Counties have shrewd financial planners and consultants . One or two hot headed Chairmen could easily blow the cash on the wrong investments and projects . Restaurant SIX springs to mind .
Well the Welsh fire bidding process was very comical to say the least like old time comic sketch, ' that was the one team the ECB were desperate to get rid of first as they may have not received a bid if left till the end it will come out I'm sure
ReplyDeleteWhat a farcical process it was & also valued more than the rockets not the ECB finest hour
Arguably WELSH Fire is the most identifiable for the wider new audience with a potential draw from a whole country. The Indian billionaires wanted London and especially Lord's as London is one place that they have in their property portfolios.
DeleteLondon maintains its draw and any expansion in the H*ndred will be in a third London franchise.
Does anyone identify as Trent? It's even more wishy washy than Northern which is all a matter on perspective.
Perhaps in the future we'll have London Rockets as franchises migrate.
London Welsh Fire
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ReplyDeleteGO THE WHOLE HOG !
LondonWelshFireTrentSuperchargers!
Would all that print fit onto a 100 Ball fans shirt !
With what’s been paid out by the franchise buyers I can see the 100 Ball merchandise 🚀 Rocketing upwards !? Replica fans shirt ? No problem ! That’s £105 . What size is little Jimmy ?
Will the Radcliffe Road shop be selling Chelsea and LA Dodgers kit in the future? - asking for a schmuck I know.
DeleteAt a members focus group last week I was told: (marketing sales figures/data)
ReplyDeleteThere's been little interest in Rockets from Derbyshire.
There's been a little more interest in Rockets from Leicestershire
The average Rockets fan travels over 50 miles to get to a game (so further afield than Leicester)
The Rocket franchise was originally to encompass Notts, Leics and Derbyshire, where there would appear to be minimal interest,
so who is it Andy Hunt thinks that he is talking on behalf of?
Interesting how the money will be distributed & timescale to release funds
ReplyDelete8 week cooling off period some may want to renegotiate the value paid after there number crunch's have looked over the real books
They will pay instalments over three years for there successful purchase
So After all costs & fees are taken into account that the ECB have incurred, regarding this process' it may be the money to the 19 beneficiaries may not be what they expected & more than likely be paid out in cash instalments over the same three year period' as most people will know the devil's always in the detail' it's
Never straight forward
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ReplyDeleteYES - a lot can happen during the next eight weeks. Perhaps one or two bidders got auction fever and actually bid more than they originally wanted to ? Let’s hope the tabled bids are legally watertight and backtracking not allowed unless there has been some misrepresentation by the ECB . I would think that’s unlikely . When you are a multi millionaire/ billionaire then the odd million here and there is like petty cash. It’s a problem I will never have .
Thanks a lot Radio Nottingham.
ReplyDelete! "Expert" on franchise sport, interviewed in a gushing of pro Hundred bias, said people used to support teams like Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club, Forest and County.
So much of this is so unclear.
ReplyDeleteBig picture, the Hundred process has probably saved cricket as we know it. Without it I think we would have been down to about 10 teams within five years
But what is the 100?, Trent rockets is really Nottinghamshire Rockets, and most Nottinghamshire fans would have preferred to grow the Outlaws, so not sure what the long term viability of it is, never mind will any of these new investors get any money back.
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ReplyDeleteFor the vast sums spent by the various franchise bidders it’s hard to see how a return will be achieved ? But it’s obviously being viewed long term with more than likely a hidden agenda? They will want their pound of flesh one way and another and the new investors will more than likely call the shots in the few years. You take the pieces of eight on offer and then await the consequences !
Be interesting to see how the various 18 Counties see their windfalls!?
The purchaser of a huge share in Trent Rockets, seems to have a lot of questions to answer, to put it mildly. How much did NCCC look into his suitability ?
ReplyDeleteIt was the ECB that was selling their 49% stakes in each of the franchises and for which these buyers have been found. The Trent Bridge executives are now in discussions with Cain and Ares to work out how they can work together. Each party knows that they didn't get their first choice or even second choice of working partner through this process, so everyone is out to save face and be tough in negotiations, probably. What a £40M minority stake in a franchise, largely shunned by Nottingham cricket supporters, buys you is what is perhaps a sticking point. Will the CEO of Trent Rockets be able to share? The ECB still have 100% control over the competition, scheduling and media rights, as I understand it.
Delete