Hundred expansion a ‘no-brainer' if investment succeeds, predicts ECB chief

The Guardian

13-02-2025

English cricket bosses believe that it will be 'almost a no-brainer' to expand the Hundred in the future after raising more than £520m by selling a stake in each of the competition's eight teams.
The England and Wales Cricket Board announced on Thursday that the eight bids had placed a total enterprise value of just over £975m on the Hundred teams – with £520m being injected into the professional and recreational game.
However the ECB believes that the success and global interest in the auction, which led to a consortium of Silicon Valley investors pledging to pay £144m for a 49% stake in the Lord's-based London Spirit, along with four separate Indian Premier League owners taking weighty stakes in other franchises, means the competition is likely to expand in the coming years.
'I think expansion is a good sign if it happens,' said Vikram Banerjee, the 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.'
However the sport's governing body insisted that it would retain control of the governance of the competition and the calendar, despite the influx of wealthy and powerful investors into the game.
'We didn't want to sell the competition, because it's really important that the structure of the game, and how the season is structured, is retained and owned by the ECB and our members,' the organisation's chief executive, Richard Gould, said. 'And there has to be a two-thirds majority in the ECB articles for any change to the County Championship, T20 Blast or any domestic cricket project.'
'What we've got to work through with the counties is, what's the most effective and efficient English summer now? The Hundred has been here for a while. Obviously, it's not going away. So what does the rest of the English summer look like?'
A number of investors are understood to prefer the Hundred to become a Twenty20 competition in line with other tournaments overseas once the current TV deal runs out in 2028. However this possibility was downplayed by the ECB.
'At this point in time, we haven't had a huge amount of clamour for changing the format,' said Banerjee. 'They just want to see a successful tournament that continues to grow. That's what they've bought into.'
The ECB also denied suggestions that the Hundred might be staged earlier in the day to appeal to the Indian market, especially as games in the T20 World Cup in the West Indies started at 10.30am last year because of Indian TV demands.
'What the investors are looking to do is things that can be successful with audiences in this country,' added Banerjee. 'And the aspects of the Hundred that have worked well in terms of addressing and reaching out to a new market – the fact that it finishes at 9:30pm, so families can attend – is part of what's appealed to investors.
Under the terms of the sale – one that promises grassroots initiatives around £50m – even the 11 counties without a team in the Hundred stand to gain somewhere between £20m and £27m each.
Meanwhile in a letter to cricket supporters, the ECB chair, Richard Thompson, said the auction would lead to benefits for the game at all levels. 'This investment isn't just about financial strength or growth of The Hundred itself,' he wrote. 'It's given us a golden opportunity to safeguard the future of cricket in England and Wales at all levels.
'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.'