English Cricket Bowled Over With £400m Private Equity Bid For The Hundred



£400m a hell of a lot of money into cricket like

How else would English cricket generate that?


According to this article the new TV deal from 2025 for the 100 is worth £880 million. It wouldn't make any sense for the ecb to sell off a 75% share for £400 million now if it means giving away circa £660 million in 2 years time.
 

According to this article the new TV deal from 2025 for the 100 is worth £880 million. It wouldn't make any sense for the ecb to sell off a 75% share for £400 million now if it means giving away circa £660 million in 2 years time.
How on earth can the rights be worth that much? Scottish Football does bigger numbers on Sky than The Hundred.
 
£400 million! It’s fair to say that is a lot of money.

A lot of money from outside cricket been possibly put into English cricket is not to be sneezed at, and although all of it needs to be checked through it could be a good thing.

Been saying for a while the most disappointing thing about the competition up to now has been the lack of the very top international cricketers playing it like they do the IPL.

This could improve it which in turn could really attract audiences to the game which again is the good thing?

If they can somehow add another 20 balls to it and play it as T20 as well all the better.

Having the world top cricketers playing in the height of the summer in England in a short format competition is very attractive prospect and always has been imo.
:lol:
 
How on earth can the rights be worth that much? Scottish Football does bigger numbers on Sky than The Hundred.

Thats reached its ceiling, cricket in this country is an unbelievably untapped sport. Plus interest abroad too

This is a chance for private money to grab a slice of English cricket when they can’t in the county clubs

The more money that goes in 100 the more players will prioritize it.

It’ll divide opinion again like. But as I say it will happen.

My argument is why couldn’t this have happened with a normal t20 league with current counties. But maybe they couldn’t own them or something

Counties would vote For this
 
Thats reached its ceiling, cricket in this country is an unbelievably untapped sport. Plus interest abroad too

This is a chance for private money to grab a slice of English cricket when they can’t in the county clubs

The more money that goes in 100 the more players will prioritize it.

It’ll divide opinion again like. But as I say it will happen.

My argument is why couldn’t this have happened with a normal t20 league with current counties. But maybe they couldn’t own them or something

Counties would vote For this
My grips is that we don’t have enough time or interest for two T20 comps. Either commit to a two division Blast or go full force with a franchise league where teams play home games around their respective regions. We can’t have both.
 
That’s a lot of money for something that…..

•Loses money.
•Has already seen a noticeable dip in quality and interest.
•Only does modest TV numbers.
•Won’t be the the number 1 product across all sports in the market at the time it’s played.
•Doesn’t own any commodities.
they could take it global, buy top players and put them on contracts, sell rv rights in various countries, be a big money competitor for the indian IPL.
I wouldnt be surprised if Indian multi millionaires etc are backing this, perhaps those that were too late for the IPL and want their own sweet payday.

In any case, I cant see it as good news either for the counties or for county cricket. Someone convince me otherwise!
Thats reached its ceiling, cricket in this country is an unbelievably untapped sport. Plus interest abroad too

This is a chance for private money to grab a slice of English cricket when they can’t in the county clubs

The more money that goes in 100 the more players will prioritize it.

It’ll divide opinion again like. But as I say it will happen.

My argument is why couldn’t this have happened with a normal t20 league with current counties. But maybe they couldn’t own them or something

Counties would vote For this
why think this is just for England, the ECB would have copyrighted the format so they can one day franchise it.
 
Last edited:
My grips is that we don’t have enough time or interest for two T20 comps. Either commit to a two division Blast or go full force with a franchise league where teams play home games around their respective regions. We can’t have both.

we can and will have 2 mind, the blast is the one thing the counties wont compromise over though isnt it as they get full houses
they could take it global, buy top players and put them on contracts, sell rv rights in various countries, be a big money competitor for the indian IPL.
I wouldnt be surprised if Indian multi millionaires etc are backing this, perhaps those that were too late for the IPL and want their own sweet payday.

In any case, I cant see it as good news either for the counties or for county cricket. Someone convince me otherwise!

why think this is just for England, the ECB would have copyrighted the format so they can one day franchise it.

This wont be played anywhere else

the amount of balls oesnt matter like, its basically t20

thats not the point, its just an england franchise tournament that outsiders can invest with, thats the point, its the made up teams that appeal not the format.
 
Last edited:
A pity they can't instead invest in the one day game, which has a global audience, and England are the current world champions of. But no, the ECB are instead letting it wither and die.

It's amazing that England are the limited overs champions in both formats when the charlatans running it are doing everything they can to run them domestically into the ground in favour of something nobody else plays.

No doubt Graveyard will do very well financially out of this if it is true and goes through.
 
A pity they can't instead invest in the one day game, which has a global audience, and England are the current world champions of. But no, the ECB are instead letting it wither and die.

It's amazing that England are the limited overs champions in both formats when the charlatans running it are doing everything they can to run them domestically into the ground in favour of something nobody else plays.

No doubt Graveyard will do very well financially out of this if it is true and goes through.

so would the counties mind.

this is private equity mate, they invest in what they are interested in tbf, not sure you can criticise them for this really, they havent even accepted it.
 
£400 million! It’s fair to say that is a lot of money.

A lot of money from outside cricket been possibly put into English cricket is not to be sneezed at, and although all of it needs to be checked through it could be a good thing.

Been saying for a while the most disappointing thing about the competition up to now has been the lack of the very top international cricketers playing it like they do the IPL.

This could improve it which in turn could really attract audiences to the game which again is the good thing?

If they can somehow add another 20 balls to it and play it as T20 as well all the better.

Having the world top cricketers playing in the height of the summer in England in a short format competition is very attractive prospect and always has been imo.
If thats the case then why does it even exist? Why not just relaunch the Blast and promote it hard from the outset?

The hundred has diluted things and made it even more confusing for any new cricket fan to know where their attention should be directed
 
If thats the case then why does it even exist? Why not just relaunch the Blast and promote it hard from the outset?

The hundred has diluted things and made it even more confusing for any new cricket fan to know where their attention should be directed

Yeah that’s a fair point, imo as I have said before one tournament is enough, a short format competition with the very best players available in the world available in the height of summer.

Two tournaments does dilute things and not needed!

The IPL model is extremely successful one tournament big focus on it, and most importantly all the best players in it.
 
Last edited:
Thats reached its ceiling, cricket in this country is an unbelievably untapped sport. Plus interest abroad too

This is a chance for private money to grab a slice of English cricket when they can’t in the county clubs

The more money that goes in 100 the more players will prioritize it.

It’ll divide opinion again like. But as I say it will happen.

My argument is why couldn’t this have happened with a normal t20 league with current counties. But maybe they couldn’t own them or something

Counties would vote For this
In effect the ECB are selling 75% of future broadcasting rights so it's effectively a loan in exchange for losing control of the hundred. So more cash now, less in the future. What do you think the ECB would spend that cash on that makes you believe the counties will vote for it?

If they're going to spread it around the country investing in grounds, grass root or academy facilities then great. But what would they actually spend it on?
 
Last edited:
they could take it global, buy top players and put them on contracts, sell rv rights in various countries, be a big money competitor for the indian IPL.
I wouldnt be surprised if Indian multi millionaires etc are backing this, perhaps those that were too late for the IPL and want their own sweet payday.

In any case, I cant see it as good news either for the counties or for county cricket. Someone convince me otherwise!

why think this is just for England, the ECB would have copyrighted the format so they can one day franchise it.
The Hundred is already shown world wide and has largely been a flop.
 
In effect the ECB are selling 75% of future broadcasting rights so it's effectively a loan in exchange for losing control of the hundred. So more cash now, less in the future. What do you think the ECB would spend that cash on that makes you believe the counties will vote for it?

If they're going to spread it around the country investing in grounds, grass root or academy facilities then great. But what would they actually spend it on?

They’d vote for it if they got a large part, simple as that, they’d know before hand

I’m not a fan of all this but just reading some comments I think some people on here are a bit naive and burying their heads in the sand a bit
 
A lot of concerns on other social media about what they would want for their 75%.

They could insist on our international players being available. They may want to just play the games at Lord's and the Oval. They may want more franchise teams expanding the tournament sneezing the county games even more to the margins. They would also get a chunk of the Sky TV deal.

Given that the next Sky deal is worth £880 million for all international and domestic cricket, this £400 mill offer seems peanuts.

The ECB are right to turn it down.
 

According to this article the new TV deal from 2025 for the 100 is worth £880 million. It wouldn't make any sense for the ecb to sell off a 75% share for £400 million now if it means giving away circa £660 million in 2 years time.

You’re focusing on 75% of the revenues. It’s 75% of the profit or loss that they’re giving away and it’s not due to break even for a while.
 

Back
Top