The prospective buyers of the eight Hundred franchises have been given more time to complete deals that will inject at least £520m into English cricket after four of them raised concerns about the terms of the agreement. As first reported by the Daily Telegraph, the eight-week exclusivity period agreed with the England and Wales Cricket Board at the start of February will pass without contracts being signed, but all parties have expressed confidence that agreement will be reached by the new deadline, which has been extended until the end of April. Reliance Industries, who have agreed to buy 49% of Oval Invincibles, and Cricket Investor Holdings, the American tech group who have joined forces with the MCC to run London Spirit at Lord’s, have both expressed concerns about the participation agreement, the new investors’ contract with the ECB. The Guardian has learned that the Indian owners of the Manchester Originals and Northern Superchargers have also queried elements of the contract, and as a result the ECB has agreed to an extended deadline. None of the eight new owners are planning to sign until all of them are ready to do so. Multiple sources at the ECB, the existing Hundred franchises and representatives of the new investors expressed confidence that agreement will be reached eventually, but there remain problems to resolve. The biggest stumbling block revolves around who will control the Hundred’s next TV deal, with many of the new investors wanting to take over sale of TV rights and to retain the revenue, rather than the ECB. The Hundred is now part of the ECB’s exclusive domestic rights deal with Sky Sports, which includes all of England’s men’s and women’s home matches, and the governing body want to retain the right to sell a bundled deal for the 2028 to 2032 cycle. Several of the new owners have queried why the Hundred cannot be sold separately to the highest bidder however, which is how cricket-rights deals work in India. Oval’s new partners Reliance, who are owned by India’s richest family the Ambanis, have a particular interest in media rights through their joint venture with Disney and ownership of telecoms firm Jio, who stream IPL matches free of charge to their subscribers in India. Increasing the value of the Hundred’s overseas TV will be crucial in enabling the new owners to recoup some of their planned £520m investment, and given their expertise in the area Reliance and Cricket Investor Holdings in particular are determined to gain control. Breaking this up their rights portfolio would have implications for the ECB’s longstanding relationship with Sky, who pay £220m-a-year for exclusive live coverage of the English summer, and could lead to a decline in the value of the TV contract.
Author: Matt Hughes