Today is a significant day for cricket and the financial security of the sport in England. Because at some point later today the deadline will pass for official expressions of interest in the eight for sale Hundred franchises.
In a fund raise that the England and Wales Cricket Board hopes will generate close to £500m, two London franchises and six more further afield will have owners picked from around the various serious bidders.
Those, it is understood, range from Manchester United owners the Glazers, Mr Deadpool himself Ryan Reynolds, the powerful Ambani family, Saudi Arabia and a multitude of other Indian Premier League franchise owners.
ECB chief Richard Gould this week said in Multan that there were “about 100” serious bids, a significant number given the rocky road English cricket has been on to get here.
Hundred debate
But the fact of the matter is this: 49 per cent of each of the eight teams, at a minimum, will be sold to those who have, by today, shown interest in investing in English cricket and British sport. Albeit the ECB are hardly going to reject a mega offer if it comes on Saturday morning, one assumes.
There have been debates surrounding the value of each franchise – industry experts believe, understandably, that the two London teams will fetch the highest prices – given the initial offering is a minority stakeholding.
Many of the eight host counties will be keen to sell off at least some of their free 51 per cent given to them by the governing body, albeit others are said to be wary about giving up control to outside investors, and therefore relinquish control of their Hundred franchise.
But the price for giving up control? A little extra cash in the coffers on day one.
The ECB are working with Raine Group – who helped broker the deal between the Glazers and Sir Jim Ratcliffe for the Ineos billionaire’s 27 per cent stake in Manchester United – and Deloitte on the sale of the franchises and it represents some of the biggest capitalisation in cricket’s history.
Mixed feelings
There will be those, such as Indian Premier League founder Lalit Modi, who look at what the Hundred has become with disdain – he referred to the league as a “big fat Ponzi scheme” and admitted he tried to buy the August window the competition sits in but not the competition itself.
In Modi’s corner will be some of the county cricket faithful, who see the Hundred as the end. One country cricket source, despite a reminder of the financial income all 18 counties will receive, simply told City AM the Hundred was “abbaye de Monte-à-Regret”; gallows, then the guillotine.
But for those who tend to fall into a younger demographic, Gen Z and below, and, especially, women, the Hundred seems to be an attractive product amongst the congested market that is British sport.
We will not conclusively find out who has purchased a stake in each of the eight franchises until next year, with the 2025 edition of the competition set to be a transition year before 2026 enacts the decree of cricket on steroids.
But when the clock ticks silently past the deadline, English cricket really is changed forever – for the better or worse.