After the high-octane activity around the sale of equity shares in The Hundred, discussed in this column two weeks ago, there was reason to suppose that the dust might be allowed to settle. However, the eight franchise hosts and the buying parties now have eight weeks in which to negotiate the finer details of their partnerships. This means that the dust cannot settle yet on those agreements. Nor, it seems, will it be allowed to settle just yet by either the unsuccessful bidders or by those who continue to question the wisdom of the sales.
Those in the latter category busy themselves with what the sales really mean for cricket in England and Wales, beyond the promise of injections of cash into a system which is known for its financial fragility. Among the 18 first-class counties, Surrey is consistently the most profitable. In 2023-24, it generated after-tax profits of $10.14 million (£8 million) on an income of $82.9 million. Seven others are profitable in varying degrees. Derbyshire, for example, generated an after-tax profit of $88,700 on an income of $7.35 million in 2023. Out of the other 10 counties, seven made small losses and three made losses at levels which caused significant concern.
Generally, those counties which regularly host international cricket generate the highest revenues. However, given that only the Oval and Lord’s in London and Edgbaston, Birmingham, have this allocation each year, there is some unevenness in revenue streams for the other counties which host international matches. The England and Wales Cricket Board distributes a significant proportion of its income to the counties and the wider game. This is derived largely from broadcasting rights, sponsorship and match returns. Those counties which rarely host international matches are much more dependent on this distribution. Fifty-five percent of Derbyshire CCC’s income is provided by the ECB compared with 6 percent for Surrey.
It is this two-tier system which worries some observers. The $25.35 million expected windfall which each county outside of The Hundred franchise system will receive over the next three to five years will ameliorate their financial fragilities. There are concerns about how the money will be spent. The ECB is addressing this by putting “guard-rails” in place. These apply to all eighteen counties and, under a banner of spend wisely, they encourage debt repayment, infrastructure improvements and a bolstering of reserves. The counties all have different structures, cultures and financial imperatives, so each will focus differently on how they will deploy the funds.
In this goldrush there may still be opportunities for prospectors who were unsuccessful the first time around. It is understood that initial discussions with at least six non-Hundred hosting counties have focused on the purchase of stakes ranging from 20 to over 50 percent. An explanation of this could lie in a possible future increase in the number of Hundred franchises. This has been openly floated by the ECB, with strong hints toward an expansion into northeast and southwest England. This puts the spotlight firmly on Durham, Somerset and Gloucestershire. In the latter’s case, there has been open discussion of selling its existing ground in Bristol and moving to a greenfield site elsewhere in the county. Another outcome of the sale of The Hundred may be that cricket becomes a matter of real estate.
In this respect, spare a thought for Middlesex CCC. It has played cricket at Lord’s since 1877 but is only a tenant, since the ground is owned by the Marylebone Cricket Club and its members. Hence the county, unlike most others, has neither ownership nor direct financial interest in its home ground. In 2023, it posted profits of $166,000 — the first since 2016.
The sale of the ECB’s 49 percent stake in the London Spirit Hundred team, which is based at Lord’s, for $184 million to a Silicon Valley consortium has led to speculation that they may be open to considering investment in Middlesex CCC. The county is owned by its members and any proposal to demutualize would need to be sanctioned by a majority of them. It unlikely that this speculation would exist had stakes in the Hundred not been sold.
One of the criticisms of that sale was that the investors did not seem to have bought anything tangible. The term “ego money” was brandished, especially in the case of those who acquired the stake in London Spirit. All that had been bought was a share of a name. No physical assets were acquired. The players are engaged on a freelance basis. The ground is owned by the MCC. The format is not played in any other country.
Clearly, this did not concern the investors, as three sets of them fought vigorously for the London Spirit stake at auction. It did not deter expressions of interest from more than 70 different parties in the overall sale process of shares in eight teams. The successful bidders are all very wealthy people running highly profitable businesses. Their vision must go beyond the initial investments. Apart from occupying some of the most historic arenas in English and Welsh cricket for the month of August and aside from indulging their undoubted love of the game, they see opportunity.
Suddenly, cricket has become a talking point. The impact of this investment will permeate English and Welsh cricket. This has been apparent in recent county annual general meetings and members forums which I have attended. Executives, exhausted by the weeks of negotiations, were praised by members for their efforts. These were the same membership bodies which excoriated the same executives for selling cricket down the road by agreeing to support The Hundred.
My sense is that there is now an appetite to make changes in the way the game is scheduled and the operational models which it adopts. It may well be that The Hundred format does not survive in the medium term and T20, which is played all over the cricketing world, may prevail. Fitting four formats in a short summer continues to pose a scheduling nightmare, with men’s and women’s double-header matches becoming more common.
Ahead of the 2025 season, my inbox is telling me that the marketing machine for T20 and Hundred matches has been cranked up to new levels. If the original purpose of The Hundred was to provide a vehicle to attract new investment to the game, then, so far, that has been achieved. Many feared that it was a backdoor route to reduce the number of counties. In a strange turn of events, it may well be the savior of them. There can be no lingering doubts that The Hundred auction is acting as a catalyst for the financial and structural transformation of cricket in England and Wales.
