Change is coming then.
How much – and exactly what that change looks like – remains to be seen but what we do know is that until the ECB’s broadcast deal with Sky finishes at the end of the 2028 season, no more teams will be added.
However, with Vikram Banerjee, managing director of The Hundred, saying in February that expanding the competition in future was a “no-brainer”, additional franchises is one significant change highly likely to be considered at some stage.
The number of teams might not differ but come next year, some may have new identities.
Should the deals for stakes in Invincibles and Rockets be rubber-stamped, four Hundred sides will be at least partially influenced by Indian Premier League (IPL) owners.
The Sun Group, owner of IPL side Sunrisers Hyderabad, has paid just over £100m for a 100% stake in Northern Superchargers.
Indian company RPSG Group, which owns Lucknow Super Giants, has purchased 70% of Manchester Originals, while GMR Group, which owns Delhi Capitals, has bought 49% in Southern Brave.
Reliance Industries Limited, owned by the multi-billionaire Ambani family who control Mumbai Indians, is also set to purchase a 49% stake in Oval Invincibles.
The ECB has already received applications for the names of Superchargers and Originals to be changed.
Reports, external say RPSG Group plan to bring the latter in line with their teams in Lucknow and Durban by renaming them Manchester Super Giants before the 2026 season.
It would be no surprise to see Invincibles, Superchargers and Brave go the same way.
Following the templates they’ve used in franchise leagues in South Africa, the United States and the United Arab Emirates, it could be a warm welcome to MI Oval, Sunrisers Northern and Southern Capitals.
Player salaries have increased for this year’s tournament, with the top men’s players now earning up to £200,000, up by 60%, while leading women’s salaries have risen 30% to £65,000.
But, with fresh investment, there is the potential for further increases to help attract the world’s best short-form players – something the men’s tournament has struggled with amid competition from the Caribbean Premier League and Major League Cricket in recent years.
Replacing the current draft system with something closer to the IPL auction might enable that, and the ECB announcing a new The Hundred Board – which will include representatives of the investors and host counties – with “delegated authority” over player salaries and the draft, opens the door to that possibility.
The ECB does still own the competition itself and have control over the regulations and length of the window in which it is played.
But if their new partners push to ditch the 100-ball format, played solely in the UK, in favour of the globally popular T20, or want six weeks rather than four following a future expansion, tough decisions – guaranteed to be unpopular with one group or another – will have to be made.
Meanwhile, ECB chief executive Richard Gould has hinted “de-coupling” some women’s and men’s matches will be considered.
Double-headers have been the norm since The Hundred began in 2021 and Gould says a capacity crowd for a women’s game is a target within “the next couple of years”.
www.bbc.com
#Private #investment #set #change #100ball #competition
