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The Hundred is over for another year, with the Oval Invincibles and the London Spirit winning their respective finals at Lord’s.
When it returns next year, the competition can expect to be radically different. There will be an influx of new owners and a rebranding of many teams with names that might be instantly familiar to Indian audiences.
To grow the tournament and allow it to exist independently, the ECB (English and Wales Cricket Board) is about to embark on a sale process that will see them sell ownership stakes in all eight franchises.
All the existing Indian Premier League teams want a slice of the cake. Still, they face competition from owners of NFL sides and other sports teams in America, who are already heavily invested in football in England and Wales.
The Hundred began in 2021, and although initial audience figures were good and it managed to attract a growing fan base from a different demographic than traditional cricket fans, this summer has been a different story.
Faced with competition from the Olympics, which was staged at the same time, 28% fewer people watched men’s matches, and even more worryingly, 41% fewer tuned in for women’s games.
Whilst this was a one-off factor, there is an underlying sense of stagnating competition, which requires new ideas and investors.
Since its inception, the Hundred has struggled to attract the best overseas talent to the men’s event.
In simple terms, the salaries on offer are just not attractive enough to make them want to sign up for a three-week spell playing in England or Wales.
This year, the top salary for men was ₤150,000, and for women ₤50,000. At the other end of the scale, some male players earned as little as ₤15,000, while the starting salaries for women were as low as ₤8,000.
These figures do not compare to the ₤2.2 million that Mitchell Starc got to play for the Kolkata Knight Riders in the Indian Premier League this year or the ₤1.8 million that his international captain Pat Cummins got from the Sunrisers Hyderabad.
Cummins has since further boosted his bank balance by signing a four-year deal to play for the San Francisco Unicorns in Major League Cricket. The San Francisco Unicorns are two years younger than the Hundred but have already shown themselves capable of attracting top talent, especially from Australia.
Glenn Maxwell, Steve Smith, Travis Head, Cameron Green, and Jake Fraser-McGurk played in the tournament this year.
As franchise leagues proliferate around the world, demand for talent far outstrips supply. The Hundred needs to pay more if it wants the best.
The Hundred still attracts opposition from traditionalists in the UK, who are worried about the threat it poses to county cricket – its franchise teams do not fit into custom-old alignments- and its impact on test cricket. This summer, the home series between the West Indies and Sri Lanka was moved to either end of the summer to accommodate it. The fact that England captain Ben Stokes picked up the injury playing for the Northern Superchargers that subsequently rules him out of the Sri Lanka series has also undermined its popularity.
Recognizing some of these issues, the ECB is about to embark on the sale process that they hope will raise up to ₤400 million. While some of this income will go to the counties themselves—many are in debt and losing money—most will be used to make The Hundred more sustaining and to improve its overall attractiveness.
Indian involvement in English cricket is not new. Between 2010 and 2013, the Rajasthan Royals participated in a marketing agreement with Hampshire, and they are currently in discussions about buying a stake in Yorkshire Cricket Club.
Recently, the GMR Group, one of the co-owners of the Delhi Capitals, announced that it is set to buy Hampshire and that it is also in talks to buy a substantial minority stake in the Hundred franchise, the Southern Brave.
Although there are currently eight Hundred franchises, not all are equal in the eyes of potential investors. London Spirit is the jewel in the crown as far as many are concerned, expecting to account for at least 25% of all revenue raised.
That is not so much because of their achievements on the field – the title their women’s side won last week was the first either of their teams had achieved – but because of their location, in the heart of the biggest city in Europe.
And the fact that they play their home games at Lord’s, the spiritual home of cricket, is also a major attraction for investors.
Already, there have been suggestions that the Ambani family, who own the Mumbai Indians, is ready to submit a huge bid to blow potential rivals out of the water.
The Oval Invincibles are also in a solid position to attract bids. This is partly due to their location in South London, a large fanbase, and successful marketing initiatives.
Meanwhile, any takeover activity by the Royals of Yorkshire could also include a bid for the Northern Superchargers.
By contrast, the Trent Rockets and Welsh Fire can expect to raise less money.
Sales of the Spirit and the Invincibles are complicated because the Marylebone Cricket Club and Surrey hold majority shares in the franchises and are reluctant to surrender them.
However, it appears that even if buying minority stakes in the franchises, the ECB is willing to cede naming rights to the new owners.
That could see London Spirit become MI London, the Northern Superchargers morph into the Northern Royals, and Southern Brave transform into the Southern Capitals.
This aligns with the strategy of Indian Premier League teams to become global players by expanding their footprint into other franchise leagues.
The Indians’ stable, for example, already includes MI Cape Town, MI New York (Major League Cricket) and MI Emirates ILT20).
A similar phenomenon exists in football, where teams are increasingly becoming part of global groups—the City and Red Bull groups are two examples. These groupings allow teams, which have a common nomenclature, to share coaching and technical expertise, finance and technical know-how, and marketing efforts. They also provide an umbrella under which players can be transferred between clubs.
A similar age may be dawning in cricket with the creation of guns for hire, players who make a living in franchise cricket, moving from league to league, often contracted to one central franchise, who, in effect, hires them out and directs where they should play next.
Indian Premier League teams have been used to having their own way when it comes to selling franchises—when the SA20 was set up, they ended up buying all six, despite local opposition.
However, they could find things different this time with American involvement expected. For example, Knighthead Capital Limited, an American venture capital firm that now owns League One football club Birmingham City and counts NFL legend Tom Brady among its minority investors, is expected to bid for Birmingham Phoenix.
Hollywood actor Ryan Reynolds, who has become almost as famous as co-owners of Wrexham football club as he is for his exploits on screen, could join a consortium to acquire Welsh Fire.
What is almost certain is that when the fifth edition of The Hundred gets underway in 2025, it will likely have a completely different feel and look.
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