Counties could receive £10m windfalls if £400m Hundred offer is accepted

Counties could be in line for a windfall of between £8-10 million each if the England & Wales Cricket Board accepts an offer from external investors to buy into the Hundred.

It emerged over the weekend that the Bridgepoint Group, a London based investment company, has offered £400 million for a 75 per cent stake in the Hundred just two years after its launch.

Whether the offer is accepted or even how concrete it is, remains to be seen but the money would be a lifeline for the counties with one insider projecting an £8-10m boost per club.

The ECB would take a chunk to bolster its cash reserves which stand at £22.9m, having slumped from £70 million five years ago due to costs setting up the Hundred and the pandemic. Around 10 per cent would go to the recreational game and the rest shared by the counties.

County cricket has a cumulative net debt of between £180-200m and with interest rates going up even the richest clubs will feel the pinch. For the smaller counties that rely on the ECB to survive, the money from the Hundred would be a game changer.

Richard Thompson, the new ECB chair, warned when he took over in September that the game faced a tricky financial future even though it has the security of a £220m per year deal with Sky until 2028.

The long broadcast deal gives security but at the same time there is little opportunity to grow revenue and with inflation running high, and a cost of living crisis biting, the margins have shrunk.

County chairmen will inevitably demand more information about the Bridgepoint offer and there could be pressure to take it by the time Richard Gould, the new chief executive, starts in the new year.

With the ECB retaining a 25 per cent stake it would still have some control over the competition and an asset that could grow if in future years the competition attracts private equity companies bid for any of the eight franchises or another investor comes along to buy the controlling stake off Bridgepoint.

English cricket has been wary of private investment but the whole point of setting up the Hundred was to provide the game with an alternative revenue source to broadcast income.

“It is a win-win situation for the ECB,” said one source. “The county chairmen will definitely want to have a look at it.”