Three Hundred franchises up for grabs with bidding set to resume February 4, 2025 The sale of the final three Hundred franchises could resume on Wednesday after being paused by England cricket chiefs to allow for previously unsuccessful bidders to reassess their options. Northern Superchargers, Trent Rockets and Southern Brave are still up for grabs following a £340m investment in the other five franchises which valued them at almost [...]
Lucknow Super Giants owner wins £100m race for Manchester Originals February 3, 2025 RPSG Group, the owner of Indian Premier League team Lucknow Super Giants, has won the race to buy into Manchester Originals in a deal valuing the Hundred franchise at £100m. The conglomerate, chaired by Sanjiv Goenka, has agreed to pay around £50m for the England and Wales Cricket Board’s 49 per cent stake in the [...]
Afghan Women’s Team first recipients of MCC Global Refugee Cricket Fund January 31, 2025 The Afghan Women’s Team will be the first recipients of the MCC Global Refugee Cricket Fund, it was announced on Friday. Marylebone Cricket Club and the MCC Foundation have launched the fund to help those in cricket who have been displaced due to conflict. The Afghan Women’s Team were forced into exile from their native [...]
Mumbai Indians IPL owning Ambanis win race for Oval Invincibles January 30, 2025 Oval Invincibles have become the first Hundred franchise to see a 49 per cent stake sold, with Indian family the Ambanis the winning bidders. The 49 per cent stake in the Oval-based London team will value the franchise at £123m, according to the Telegraph, with Sky News’ Mark Kleinman reporting the Ambanis fended off bids [...]
Stokes and Gakpo part of £4m funding round for AI wealth firm Prosper January 30, 2025 England cricket captain Ben Stokes and Liverpool forward Cody Gakpo are part of a £4m funding round for a wealth management platform leveraging AI. The sportsmen joined Fuel Ventures, who led the round with a £2m investment, in London-based FinTech Prosper. Olympians Dame Jessica Ennis-Hill, Dame Sarah Storey and Tim Podcock, and footballers Ben White [...]
It’s not the 90s, TNT deal for Six Nations wouldn’t hurt rugby January 30, 2025 On the eve of this year’s men’s Six Nations bursts forth news that TNT Sports is preparing a bid for broadcast rights to the tournament from 2026. Cue mild hysteria at the possibility of rugby’s premier annual competition “disappearing” behind a TV paywall. An accelerant to the decline in mass interest in the sport or [...]
Hundred: Sale of franchise stakes could value cricket league at £700m January 29, 2025 English cricket is set for a major financial boost with the Hundred sale, which enters its final round of bidding, expected to value the eight franchises at as much as £700m. That figure is double the sum the England and Wales Cricket Board rejected from Bridgepoint for the whole tournament in 2022 and would therefore [...]
Apple eyes MLS sell-off as even Messi can’t save £2bn deal January 29, 2025 Apple TV is considering selling off some of its international rights to Major League Soccer (MLS) just two years into a 10-year deal. The streaming company is paying $250m (£200m) a year for global MLS rights in a bet that interest in the American domestic league would grow significantly on the back of Lionel Messi’s [...]
Barclays becomes main sponsor of Lord’s and MCC January 27, 2025 Barclays has expanded its sports sponsorship portfolio by becoming principal partner of Lord’s Cricket Ground and its owner, Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC). The multi-year partnership, effective immediately, sees the Home of Cricket’s iconic Media Centre renamed the Barclays Media Centre. It will also mean the bank making “one of the largest ever donations” to the [...]
Six Nations investors CVC Capital Partners table Oval Invincibles bid January 23, 2025 Private equity giant CVC Capital Partners have reportedly tabled a bid for Hundred franchise Oval Invincibles. It comes as the eight teams are being asked by the England and Wales Cricket Board to shortlist three or four preferred bidders to take through to the next stage of the auction. The ECB is selling each of [...]