Richard Gould, the chief executive of the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), has responded to accusations made by Indian Premier League founder Lalit Modi, who described the Hundred as “a big fat Ponzi scheme.”
Modi criticized the ECB this week, claiming the board was “overly optimistic and disconnected from reality” regarding the sale of the Hundred, the controversial short-format tournament that launched four years ago after years of bitter wrangling. He specifically targeted figures mentioned in a prospectus for potential investors that predicted strong growth in overseas broadcast rights.
The sale process for the eight teams opened recently, with expectations to conclude before the 2025 season. However, Vikram Banerjee, who is managing the sale for the ECB, admitted this week that it could be delayed.
In an interview, Gould reminded Modi that he had valued the competition at US$1 billion when proposing to buy it earlier this year.
“We see the amount of interest, not just in the Hundred, but in English cricket, both internally and globally,” said Gould. “I don’t recognise his particular comments. Indeed, it wasn’t so long ago that he had said he wanted to buy the competition for a billion [pounds]… so. No thank you. When you are in these investment processes, it is all about opinions. We’ve had incredible levels of interest.”
“We have 100 or so interested parties, which is a huge number. It’s steady as she goes, we take nothing for granted, there is a really good process that is being run.”
The proceeds of any sale will be distributed throughout the county game. The ECB has not specified the amount it hopes to raise but turned down an offer of £300 million for 75 percent of the competition from private equity firm Bridgepoint in 2022. The ECB is understood to seek £500 million across the eight teams. Gould acknowledged that he also has a minimum figure in mind that would be too low to accept.
“We hope that will deliver a really positive outcome,” he said. “If it does, we are looking to use the money to underpin the county game for the next generation, the next 20-25 years. We will see. We are not taking anything for granted.”
“There will be [low] amounts that we have in mind, that our stakeholders, the counties and the venues have in mind as well. It’s a significant process that we are doing through collaboration and mutual understanding. Everyone knows that the money that comes in, we want to use to protect and supercharge the game throughout our county network and beyond.”
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Name of Author: Cricexec Staff
