The Hundred Sticks With 100 Balls: Why Investors and Broadcasters Want the Format Left Alone
The Hundred's new private investors have no appetite for turning cricket's 100-ball competition into a standard T20, according to two senior executives involved in the tournament.
Aakif Banerjee and Tom Gidney, both associated with The Hundred, said this week that the format's uniqueness is central to its value. Banerjee described the 100-ball structure as the tournament's identity, while Gidney said that distinctiveness is precisely what draws broadcasters in. Investors, Gidney added, would not necessarily want a shift to T20 — the 20-over format that already underpins leagues like the IPL and Australia's Big Bash. (BBC Sport)
The comments come just over a year after the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) completed the sale of stakes in all eight Hundred teams to private investors, bringing in more than £500m to the domestic game. The ECB sold its 49% share in each team, while the eight host clubs — the county grounds where the teams are based — chose whether to sell some, all, or none of their own 51% holding. (The Guardian; ESPNcricinfo)
The eight bids placed a combined enterprise value of just over £975m on the teams. The ECB retains full ownership of the competition itself, meaning the new partners invest in the individual franchises but do not control the tournament. (ECB; ECB)
The ECB launched the investment process in September 2024, with The Raine Group and Deloitte serving as financial advisors. Deals were finalised by July 2025, unlocking what the ECB called "hundreds of millions of pounds for gamewide growth." (ECB; ECB)
Banerjee also pointed to broader lessons from other sports. The strength of a tournament's foundations in its home country matters, he said, citing the NFL, the Premier League, and the IPL — the Indian Premier League, cricket's most lucrative franchise league — as examples of competitions rooted deeply in their domestic markets. (BBC Sport)
The Hundred has generated substantial revenue since launching in 2021, giving English cricket a route to both local crowds and global television audiences. The tournament plays with a simplified structure — 100 deliveries per innings, bowlers sending either five or ten consecutive balls, and a 25-ball powerplay with fielding restrictions — designed to fit neatly into a single broadcast window. (BBC Sport)
For fans, the message from the tournament's leadership is straightforward: the format that set The Hundred apart is staying. The private investment deals are due for renewal ahead of the 2028 season, which means the question of how the competition evolves will resurface. But for now, the 100-ball experiment — backed by new owners who bought into precisely that format — is not becoming another T20 league. (Economics Observatory)
