ECB turns down Lalit Modi’s offer to privatize The Hundred

Lalit Modi recently sent a proposal to England and Wales Cricket Board’s director of operations, Vikram Banerjee and ECB Chief Executive Richard Gould with a 10-year proposal that would allow him to buy the Hundred and make private investment, with a valuation of a billion dollars. 

While it would have been a game-changer for the ECB, especially accounting for the fact that they have failed to strike a proper business plan around it, that would have seriously impacted their relationship with the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI). Hence, according to The Telegraph, the ECB decided to turn down the proposal straight away.

As far as Modi was concerned, he wanted to change the format of the competition to T20 cricket and had revealed that he had lined up investors to pump money. He wanted it to be “English-owned and English-run” with minimal intervention of entities associated with the BCCI. 

“I would give them a guarantee of a billion dollars,” Modi told Telegraph Sport before the latest round of development. “A lot of people have been in touch with me interested in backing it and I made a proposal to the ECB but it had a lot of conditions. The Hundred format does not work and there should only be two franchises sold to Indian buyers. It will only work if it is an English competition and not Indo-centric.”

It must be noted that Lalit Modi was the biggest force behind the IPL coming into reality and was the league commissioner for the first three years, but in 2013, he was banned for life by the BCCI for “serious misconduct and indiscipline”. He decided to leave India and has been living in London ever since.

The ECB has also been a little skeptical about losing control over the league as Bridgepoint Group made an offer of £400 million for a 75 percent stake in the Hundred, but the ECB found it too low for the tournament. They, however, were ready to sell some equity in the teams while retaining complete ownership of the competition. 

Currently, the tournament generates £50 million a year in broadcasting revenue, with less than 5% of the entire pool coming from overseas rights. Its lack of appeal among the Indian audience is considered a problem for the ECB to generate substantial growth revenue.

However, in the past, many IPL teams have shown a large amount of interest to own teams in The Hundred, lest the ECB decide to opt for it. With England being the second largest market for cricket and the English summer being less crowded, franchises find it appealing to invest.