The Hundred’s £520m investment from auction hailed as ‘seminal moment’ in the sport – as ECB claim funding will protect cricket ‘for generations’
The ECB believe that the £520million generated from The Hundred auction will protect cricket ‘for generations to come’.
Investors have poured huge sums – which value the franchises in total at more than £975m – into the game in return for stakes in eight city-based teams which have existed for just four seasons.
An exclusivity period is now taking place during which terms will be finalised, with four separate Indian Premier League owners investing in teams.
‘In the past few days, we’ve reached a seminal moment for cricket in England and Wales,’ said Richard Thompson, ECB chair.
‘Four years after The Hundred was launched, we’ve now entered final discussions with eight strategic partners, each ready to invest in the competition’s eight teams and help us take the competition and English and Welsh cricket to a new level – for the benefit of the whole of our game.’
The ECB bosses are also confident that the success and global interest in the auction means the competition is likely to expand in the coming years.
The ECB have hailed the £520million generated from The Hundred auction as a ‘seminal moment’
ECB chief Richard Thompson insisted it was ‘for the benefit of the whole of our game’
‘Expansion is a good sign if it happens,’ said Vikram Banerjee, ECB’s director of business operations. ‘So we would be delighted if it does. We’ve still got a lot of hard work now. But if the tournament grows, and cricket grows across the country, then it’ll be almost a no brainer for us,’ he added.
And the ECB downplayed suggestions that the competition would turn into a T20 once the current TV deal expires in 2028.
‘At this point in time, we haven’t had a huge amount of clamour for changing the format,’ said Banerjee, while the ECB also denied that games would be staged earlier to appeal to the Indian market.
