As the third edition of The Hundred starts on July 23, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) is looking forward to offering a different look to the tournament from the very next season in 2025, with private investors and new funds expected to put a share in it.
The ECB authorities have also participated in discussions with the Indian Premier League (IPL) owners, regarding the chance to collect a stake in this domestic ‘The Hundred’ competition. This tournament features eight teams with both men’s and women’s sides getting engaged in a 100-ball format.
Even though the England cricket board hasn’t disclosed any specific points about which IPL franchises have been interested in this event or what could be the potential business model, it has been known that competition is likely to show the growth of any other franchise T20 league around the globe.
ECB promises a different version of The Hundred from 2025
The goal for the ECB is to strike a balance between attracting a cash injection to the team and retaining control over the tournament. That will be possible only by offering a 49 percent stake in each of the eight teams to private investors, with the rest 51 percent shareholding for the host teams.
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During the conference call organized for the world media, the director of business operations of the ECB, Vikram Banerjee stated that they had already met the IPL owners and gathered feedback on what would be that specific area where they would be needed to work on.
We’re about to enter a commercial negotiation, but at a principal level, this will run very similar to other franchise leagues around the world. We have spoken about the IPL owners. I’ve met all of them and taken feedback from them on specific things about what’s important.’ Vikram Banerjee expressed.
He also stretched on saying that they would start the process in around mid-September to offer a different look to the 2025 season of ‘The Hundred’, a league that is already very renowned around the world in just two seasons.
‘We’ll then look to start the process in earnest in kind of early mid-September. So (we are) kind of building off that momentum that hopefully is created from the tournament with the name that the 2025 season becomes the first season with a different look.’ Banerjee noted this during the conference call.
‘We obviously can’t say just yet, but the process will probably run into early next year, with the idea being that at least broadly, who’s coming into what team by the time the draft comes around, by the time the ticket on sale comes around in February- March.’ He observed.
The CEO of ECB, Richard Gould also mentioned that despite getting private investors for the event, they are not going to provide control to the investors on the length of the window or the period of ‘The Hundred’ league.
‘Well, control comes at different levels. It comes at team level and it comes at competition level. In terms of ceding control at competition level, and therefore the length of the window, where that window sits, how the competition is organized, that’s not something that we are ceding control of.’ Gould elaborated.
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This is the reason why the ECB is not selling the competition but rather is focused on the investors. For all of them, the wish list is quite variable.
‘That’s why we’re not selling the competition. That’s why we’re focused on those teams. And I think we’re finding that different investor groups have different needs. For some of them, control, for example, of what happens on the field will be very important. For others, branding will be important. The commercial element will also be significantly important.’ Richard concluded.
The final of The Hundred 2024 will be played on August 18, at Lord’s in London.