Tech Giants and IPL teams in final round of Hundred teams sales with London clubs and Manchester Originals attracting most interest.
Tech Giants and IPL teams are on the shortlist to make the final round of the ECB’s sale of the eight Hundred franchises.
The owners of four IPL teams—the Delhi Capitals, the Mumbai Indians, the Sunrisers Hyderabad, and the Lucknow Super Giants—as well as the co-owners of Hampshire, GMR Group, are on the shortlist. Each of the eight franchises will have a winner based on the highest bid from the final, legally binding financial bid made by each of the investors who made the short list.
Following preliminary rounds of engagement between the investors and the host counties of the eight franchises in late 2024, the ECB created its shortlist on December 23.
In order to serve as a reserve price in the final round, the ECB has assured the shortlisted investors that their final bid would be legally binding and cannot be less than the floor valuation price. The new proprietors will only take over in 2026 because the bidding process is still ongoing and the ECB is scheduled to reveal the schedule for the 2025 Hundred season this week.
Both London-based teams, Oval Invincibles (hosted by Surrey) and London Spirit (hosted by MCC), have naturally attracted the greatest number of suitors; nevertheless, Manchester Originals (hosted by Lancashire) have shown just as much appeal.
Those on the shortlist for the Invincibles are five-time IPL champions Mumbai Indians and the consortium of tech giants, while Lancer Capital, who are run by Manchester United co-owner Avram Glazer and run Desert Vipers in the ILT20, have shown strong interest in both London teams.
It is also believed that Spirit, whose home venue is Lord’s, has the consortium on their shortlist. It includes Google CEO Sundar Pichai, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen, Silver Lake Management CEO Egon Durban, and Satyan Gajwani, a co-founder of Major League Cricket in the United States and vice-chairman of Times Internet, an Indian digital behemoth. Nikesh Arora, CEO of Palo Alto Networks, a cyber security company based in the United States, is in charge of the consortium.
Another company on the shortlist to purchase Spirit is RPSG Group, led by Sanjeev Goenka. Goenka is the owner of the most costly IPL team, the 2022-launched Super Giants of Lucknow.
Mumbai is on the Manchester Originals shortlist as well. It is known that the city’s association with Manchester United and Manchester City, two of the most well-known Premier League football teams, is what attracts investors to it. Another attractive aspect of this university town is its sizable youth population.
The Originals’ host county, Lancashire, is thought to have been accommodating in letting franchise owners manage the cricketing side of the business, which is a major consideration for many investors, particularly the IPL teams. This is another reason that comes from the talks that the Originals have had with the investors on the shortlist.