English cricket’s Hundred valued at almost £1 billion

Agency:

The cascade of cash into English cricket created by the auction of stakes in Hundred franchises climaxed on Wednesday with a deal for Southern Brave.

It takes the total value of the eight-team tournament close to a mammoth £1 billion ($1.2 billion).
GMR, the owners of the Brave’s host county Hampshire and the co-owners of Indian Premier League franchise Delhi Capitals, have agreed to pay a reported fee of nearly £50 million for a 49 percent holding in the team.

A period of exclusivity between the counties and their prospective investors will now ensue as details of each deal for a club in the 100 balls per side competition, which features both men and women’s teams, are finalised.

But with the sales process complete, it means the eight teams — which only played their first matches in 2021 — have been valued at a remarkable collective figure in excess of £950 million.
The Hundred, has proved controversial, with many English and Welsh county fans angry at the way the tournament deprives their clubs of key players at the height of the season.

But cricket chiefs say funds raised from sales in Hundred franchises will support the 18 traditional counties, with current figures way in excess of the ECB’s lowest original estimate of £350 million.

The biggest individual Hundred deal was for the Lord’s-based London Spirit, with a Silicon Valley consortium paying £145 million for a minority share in a team whose total worth is valued at more than £290 million.