And then there were officially three, but expected to be four! The Sun Group, owners of Indian Premier League franchise Sunrisers Hyderabad, have become the first business conglomerate to take a 100% stake in one of the eight Hundred teams that have been put on the block by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB).
Kalanithi Maran's Sun Group have bought the entire stake in Northern Superchargers, based at Yorkshire County's home Headingley, for just over £100 million ($125m).
Sun's takeover of the Yorkshire team means that three 100 teams have direct links with IPL teams. Last week Surrey negotiated a £60m price with Reliance Industries, owners of Mumbai Indians, for a 49% stake in the Oval Invincibles, while keeping the 51% given to them by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB). And Lancashire became the first county to sell part of their share when agreeing a deal for 70% of the Manchester Originals with Sanjiv Goenka's RPSG Group, owners of Lucknow Super Giants, for around £81m.
Additionally, Southern Brave is expected to go to the GMR Group, after the co-owners of Delhi Capitals acquired a majority stake in host county Hampshire in September 2024. That announcement is still awaited, it needs noting.
Yorkshire said in a statement that Sunrisers are "renowned around the world" and the partnership will "supercharge the success of the team, and Yorkshire cricket, in the coming years".
Chief executive Sanjay Patel said the agreement was "a huge milestone" for the county.
"Having been in consultation with them for some time now, it is clear that they are aligned to the values and future direction of the club and will play a huge part in ensuring we can go on to achieve great success in the coming years," he added.
BBC reports that Yorkshire's sale comes after chair Colin Graves said the club, which is owned by members, must become a private structure in order to survive a financial crisis.
It owes almost £15m to the Graves family trust, with overall debts of more than £20m.
However, with the county set to bank almost £60m thanks to the sale of the Hundred franchises, the controversial plans could be scrapped.
For the record, the Sun Group also own Sunrisers Eastern Cape in South Africa's T20 league SA20.
The Hundred franchise owners
Franchise Owners Home Ground
Manchester Originals RPSG Group (Lucknow Super Giants) Old Trafford
Northern Superchargers The Sun Group (Sunrisers Hyderabad) Headingley, Leeds
Oval Invincibles Reliance Industries (Mumbai Indians) The Oval, London
Southern Brave GMR Group* (Delhi Capitals) Rose Bowl, Hampshire
London Spirits Silicon Valley consortium Lord's, London
Welsh Fire Sanjay Govil ) Sophia Gardens, Cardiff
Birmingham Phoenix Knighthead Capital Edgbaston, Birmingham
Trent Rockets TBA Trent Bridge, Nottingham
*Expected
So there we have it. Out of six Hundred teams, four have IPL team owners and two have gone to Indian-origin tech billionaires. Add the fact that all six franchises in SA20 have IPL team owners makes clear that India truly runs world cricket today.
- Log in to post comments