Surrey could find themselves on a collision course with English cricket’s main broadcast partner, Sky Sports, over their desire to take control and rebrand their successful Hundred franchise, Oval Invincibles.
Along with the other seven host venues, Surrey are set to be gifted a 51 per cent stake in their franchise by the England Wales Cricket Board, which last week began the formal process of selling off the other 49 per cent of the eight teams to private investors.
While most of the host counties are exploring selling their 51 per cent to raise short-term funding, wealthy Surrey have no need to cash in and are instead focusing on taking greater control of the Invincibles, who have won either the men’s or women’s Hundred every year since its launch in 2021.
The club even want to rebrand the franchise as Surrey Invincibles – a move which would be opposed by Sky.
Its focus groups produced research before the Hundred was launched which concluded that county names did not connect with a young audience.
City A.M. has learned that Sky’s TV contract with the ECB, which covers the Hundred, England internationals and other domestic action and is worth £50m a year until 2028, stipulates that the franchises are not permitted to have county names.
Oval Invincibles successfully defended their title in the men’s Hundred this year, while the women’s team – champions in 2021 and 2022 – finished fourth.