Foreign investors have been googly-eyed about English football for decades.
Now, they are buying into an even more quintessential English sport — cricket.
Auctions of franchises in The Hundred have attracted investors from India, Silicon Valley and New York over the past few days.
The competition, similar to the lucrative and popular Indian Premier League, features flashy uniforms and NFL-style player entrances through smoke plumes.
It was a change of pace for traditionalists when it debuted four years ago — in part to attract younger fans and more women. Each franchise has a men's and women's team.
With the eight franchises now up for auction, English cricket — struggling financially, particularly after the pandemic — is set to make more than 500 million pounds (US$620 million) through the sale of teams that have American-style nicknames while playing in some of the most-storied cricket stadiums in the world.
Sam Billings of Oval Invincibles holds the trophy up after The Hundred Final between Oval Invincibles and Southern Brave at Lord's Cricket Ground on August 18, 2024 in London, England. (Photo by Philip Brown/Getty Images) Getty
The headliner so far has been the billionaire tech consortium that has agreed to buy a 49 percent stake in the London Spirit for a reported price of $US180 million. The group includes Google CEO Sundar Pichai and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella.
Several teams have drawn interest from Indian buyers — not a surprise given the country's passion for the sport.
But some U.S.-based investors are joining the party, too. Knighthead Capital Management, which counts NFL great Tom Brady among its investors, has agreed to buy a 49 percent stake in Birmingham Phoenix for a reported $US50 million. The group already owns Birmingham City soccer club.
Knighthead co-founder Tom Wagner said The Hundred “represents a significant growth opportunity.”
The England and Wales Cricket Board are looking to raise hundreds of millions of dollars by selling shares in the eight franchises which take part in The Hundred — London Spirit, Oval Invincibles, Southern Brave, Birmingham Phoenix, Manchester Originals, Welsh Fire, Northern Superchargers and Trent Rockets.
Investors can buy a minimum 49 percent share of the franchises, which are currently owned by the affiliated counties. Those counties can choose to sell part or all of their remaining 51 percent stake if they wish.
The ECB reportedly had a target of raising a total of $US435 millio) from the auction but is on course to comfortably exceed that, helped by the major deal for London Spirit.
Will Jacks in action. Getty
Aside from the Silicon Valley consortium and Knighthead, the other U.S.-based investor is Sanjay Govil, an Indian-American tech entrepreneur out of Washington DC who also owns Washington Freedom in Major League Cricket, the new American cricket league.
As for the Indian investors, three have come from the IPL. Kalanithi Maran’s Sun Group, the owner of Sunrisers Hyderabad, have agreed to buy the entire stake of Yorkshire-based Northern Superchargers for a reported 100 million pounds ($125 million). That came after a 49 percent stake of London-based Oval Invincibles was taken by Reliance Industries Limited, owner of Mumbai Indians, for a reported $US75 million) and 70 percent of the Manchester Originals was bought by RPSG, owner of Lucknow Super Giants, for a reported $US100 million.
There is a good chance that GMR Global Pte Ltd, a part-owner of Delhi Capitals, will take a share of Southern Brave. That's because GMR already has a strategic partnership with Hampshire, the south-coast county team affiliated to the Brave.
A stake of Nottingham-based Trent Rockets is yet to be sold. That should happen in the coming days.
The Hundred has been running since 2021.
