The Great British Sell Off - The Hundred Goes To Auction!

The sale of stakes in England’s Hundred tournament has officially begun.

The controversial decision to begin the sell off of The Hundred franchise teams in May 2024 seemed to split opinion between those who were apprehensive about ceding control of the ECB’s flagship league and those who were excited about the prospect of increased investment.

The Oval Invincibles have been the most successful side across the men's and women's competitions

Ultimately, The Hundred was always a product that was there to be sold in one form or another - even the format itself was designed to be a new idea, something different from other franchise leagues around the world for investors.

Four years in and there is now a proof of concept for those investors to see. The competition is fun, well-attended, engaging and high-quality so it ticks a lot of boxes both within the cricketing world and beyond.

The great fear from some more traditional corners of cricket with the entry of venture capitalists into the game is the loss of control over the sport. Already, counties have seen the loss of First Class and T20 cricket from their peak month of August during the school holidays which is a major money-making month in terms of gate receipts. Fans watching cricket at Worcester, Hove or Taunton can expect as few as 3 days of cricket during the month.

The relegation of the One Day Cup to a second-tier competition with squads decimated by Hundred selection means that teams can lose the majority of their first team. Surrey for example lost 15 players to The Hundred in last year’s competition. 

The above was all done whilst the franchises were all run by existing ECB structures.

Now, with new personalities entering the game, the little control certain counties had has waned that much more. Most of these people are unfamiliar with the English game, some even with cricket which has caused concern over their motives and plans for the future.

Contrastingly, the proponents of the sale can point at one very clear and undeniable benefit - money.

£520 million is set to be pumped into the English game at various levels and whilst the exact numbers are still to be quantified that are due to be introduced to grassroots and the counties, it’s safe to say that it’s significant.

Most smaller counties, if profitable at all, could consider a £500k profit an extremely strong season - introducing millions in the mix is likely to secure the profitability and indeed the existence of the 18 counties for the next 2 decades.

Ironically, The Hundred seemingly stepping on the toes of the First Class and Test summer may well be the saving grace of those formats for the next few years.

The argument from the financial perspective is really compelling, and with the 8 franchises being valued overall at just shy of £1 billion. Future sales could also be possible to raise further funds but selling the franchises off are a one-time, irreversible transaction - making it work is vital.

New owners, the ECB and the franchises themselves have been keen to point out that the sales of the franchise teams is not going to start tectonic-shifting changes to the English game. Even if there is demand from the investors for an expanded tournament, importantly the ECB still has overall control of the tournament. 

The competition itself is unlikely to change much visibly in 2025 with team names, colours and salary caps all set to remain as they were beforehand. The result of the investments will most likely be seen in 2026 with talks already of an IPL-style auction being requested for this time next year.

The ECB will hope that 2026 will be the year for The Hundred to stake its credentials as the second-best league in the world and bring with it a number of star names.

The Hundred's ability to draw in crowds and back-to-back men's and women's games has given the competition a unique feel which has attracted investors

The importance of having an internationally relevant franchise league has never been more necessary. Ten years ago there were only five top leagues which top overseas talent would sign on for each with their own separate windows - now leagues are popping up every year vying for the same players in overlapping competitions. In January alone there are four major tournaments taking place simultaneously. 

August has also begun to become a saturated month around the globe as the Caribbean Premier League and Major League Cricket compete for cricketing-calendar real estate. Already, the relatively low salaries in this year’s Hundred and a change in regulations regarding domestic players' access to non-objection certificates throughout the English summer has had its impacts. Alex Hales has made the decision to disqualify himself from any contract in the UK with either Nottinghamshire for the T20 Blast or for the Trent Rockets as he has taken up a more lucrative contract offered by the Knight Riders group who own both Trinbago and LA Knight Riders franchises.

The Hales example is probably therefore a timely reminder of how important this investment into The Hundred has been. 

There has been positive signs too for this year’s edition and for the county game with Kane Williamson signing for a stretch at Middlesex as well as captaining the London Spirit. 

With a likely increase in salary caps in 2026, it may give those players who have chosen the MLC over The Hundred more to consider if the offers come their way. A number of links within the current investment round have now been set up with the IPL which some have suggested could potentially lure the BCCI away from its current restrictive policy on Indian players taking up non-IPL franchise contracts.

There are plenty of exciting what-ifs that still need to be ironed out.

There was no hiding that the great Hundred sell-off would come at some stage and the early signs have been positive - a lot more so than most people thought. We’re still some way off knowing the long-term impact that this will have on the English game but in the short-term the money into the counties could be a financial lifeline.