The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) is close to reaching an agreement with the new Hundred investors that will enable the governing body to retain control of selling domestic television rights while receiving the full £520m offered for the eight franchises.
The eight-week exclusivity period agreed after January’s Hundred auction was extended last month but, following further negotiations, all parties are now confident a redrafted participation agreement will be signed by the end of this month.
The new part-owners of London Spirit (a consortium of technology chief executives trading under Silicon Valley Cricket Investor Holdings) and the Oval Invincibles (Reliance Industries, which owns Mumbai Indians and is owned by the Ambani family) had pushed back against elements of the original agreement relating to the sale of TV rights, future sponsorship deals and voting rights on the Hundred committee, a new body that will run the competition from next season.
The Guardian has learned that a compromise has been reached under which the ECB retains control of all domestic TV rights including the Hundred, which is currently worth £220m a year to English cricket through a new four-year deal with Sky Sports starting this summer, with the Hundred owners taking charge of selling overseas rights.
Many of the new investors have identified the overseas TV market as the main lever for generating growth, particularly given their expertise in that area. The London Spirit consortium includes the chief executives of Google and Adobe, for example, while the new Oval owner Reliance is part of a joint venture with Disney and also owns the telecoms firm Jio, which has Indian Premier League streaming rights in India.
The ECB has achieved a significant win, however, in ensuring that the Hundred remains part of the domestic deal, as that is critical to its relationship with Sky, which has in effect bankrolled the sport since first buying exclusive rights for England’s home matches in 2006. Sky was also integral to the development of the Hundred as a concept and has invested heavily in its promotion, as well as developing the team brands.
The Hundred owners had requested the option to sell rights to the tournament separately from the rest of English international and domestic cricket, but under the terms of the participation agreement that decision will remain with the ECB. The Hundred will remain part of the domestic TV tender for the 2029-2032 rights cycle, although the ECB has not ruled out “unbundling” the rights and selling the competition separately in future years.
The ECB has also made concessions to the new owners by giving them greater freedom to sign their own sponsorship deals. A clause which gave the ECB the right to negotiate five exclusive sponsorship deals for the Hundred centrally has been removed. Investors will also be given enhanced voting rights on the Hundred committee.
Crucially for the ECB, the valuations of the franchises made during the auction remain unchanged, providing an unprecedented £520m windfall for the sport. Of that, £52m will be invested in recreational cricket, with the rest allocated to the professional game via a complex formula.
In addition to broadcasting, sponsorship and commercial arrangements, the participation agreement also covers the Hundred schedule, playing conditions and the number of teams, with those elements remaining unchanged.
It is widely expected the Hundred will adopt a Twenty20 format when the next TV deal starts in 2029, although that issue has not been raised during the participation agreement discussions. Any changes to the format, or possible expansion by adding two more teams, will be determined by the Hundred committee.
