Gloucestershire to Become Bristol in the T20 Blast From 2027
Gloucestershire will stop competing as Gloucestershire in the T20 Blast and will rebrand as Bristol from 2027, the club has announced. The change applies only to the short-form competition, where each side bats and bowls for 20 overs (a fast format that usually finishes in about three hours).
The club has played as Gloucestershire since 1870. Its men's and women's teams will get a new T20 identity, while Gloucestershire Cricket stays as the club's overarching name. The Blast is the England and Wales domestic competition for 20-over cricket, and it runs alongside the longer red-ball and one-day formats the county also plays.
Gloucestershire said the move aims to reach a new audience and to address falling ticket revenue. The Blast brings in about 20% of the club's ticketing income, and BBC Sport reported that Blast revenue fell 21% in 2026 compared with 2025. The club did not say how much of the drop it expects to win back under the new name.
The decision followed several months of consultation. Gloucestershire said it spoke to players, members, key stakeholders and the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), the sport's governing body in those countries. The club first looked at a Bristol name for the Blast in 2015, when it asked members for their views.
Gloucestershire is not the first county to try this. Warwickshire became Birmingham Bears for T20 cricket in 2014, and the Bears have used that name for their short-form games since. Gloucestershire's home ground in Bristol has also carried a different name since 2022, when it was renamed the Seat Unique Stadium with immediate effect.
The club's Blast team has a strong recent record to carry into the change. Gloucestershire won the competition for the only time in 2024, beating Somerset at Edgbaston in Birmingham. The 2026 campaign for both the men's and women's sides opened on Friday 22 May in Bristol, as part of the first double-header of the tournament.
The new name, kit and logo are expected to be unveiled at the same time as the 2027 Blast fixtures. Those fixtures will be released on 24 November. Until then, the details of the new identity remain unconfirmed.
For fans, the practical question is simple: the same players, the same ground and the same club will be wearing new colours in a new competition name. Whether a Bristol badge brings in new crowds is a question for next summer's gates, not for this week's announcement.
