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Blues director, the Glazers siblings and Ambani family bids for the stakes of the Hundred teams

Chelsea director Jonathan Goldstein has shown his interest in acquiring stakes of England’s the Hundred league. It is the first professional cricket competition where overs are not counted. Instead of that deliveries are counted. Where both of the opponents gets to face 100 deliveries each before the innings ends.

It is a new form of cricket, which was first established in England in 2021. This league is controlled by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB). Where 8 major cities across England and Wales competes for the silverware. In the first year of the competition, cricket fans around the world thought this new format won’t last long. However, to everyone’s surprise it has done some great business with both tickets and broadcasting so far.

This format is even shorter than a t20 game and excites the fans in the same way. The bowlers gets to ball a maximum of 20 balls in an innings. Where they can bowl a minimum of 5 or the maximum of 10 consecutive balls. Because of this unique rules the Hundred is getting more & more popular.

And that is why to shape the future of the league and to grow more profit out of it, the ECB have started to sell the stakes of the Hundred franchises. And many notable figures from across the globe(including footballing figures) are interested to invest in it.

Chelsea director and other notable figures fights for the stakes of the Hundred franchises

As per the reports, the 8 teams of the competition have received a valuation worth over £650 million. Where a huge flow of interests are incoming from the sporting industries and the American investors. In the first round of bidding which took place till last Friday, saw more than 100 offers coming forward.

The sales process of the shares are managed by the ECB alongside the Deloitte and the Raine Group. After receiving this much offers, the management expressed their ‘delight’, as they believe the Hundred will become more famous and produce more profit in the upcoming years. The notable investors in that first round of bidding process include Blues directors Goldstein, Man United owners the Glazers siblings and Indian business tycoon Mukesh Ambani’s family.

Highest bids

However the highest bid came from none of those mentioned above. It is reported that one of IPL’s cricket team, LSG’s owner Sanjiv Goenka placed a bid of approximately £140 million. It is placed for the London Spirit, club based at the Lord’s.

Goenka’s offer has crossed the one of Ambani’s remarkably. It is reported that many other parties have gone near that 140 mark for the Spirits. On the other hand, the second highest bid came for the Oval Invincibles. They received an offer worth around £120 million from an American investor. Another franchise received an offer near that range but the name isn’t revealed yet. However, the other 5 teams have received offers up to the valuation of £80 million.

Proceeds distribution from the sales

It is reported that the calculated valuations are 100% ownership stakes of each team. And the ECB have decided to sell 49% shares of each franchise. While the remaining 51% will be gifted to the home venues of each city, who are competing. The home venues can decide on whether they will retain the stakes or sell portions of it.

The ECB have expects to earn more than £500 million from the sale of those 49% stakes alone. As per the reports of the Telegraph, proceeds from the sales will be distributed in this way-

  1. The first 10% will fund recreational cricket, with the remainder distributed to counties.
  2. Out of the counties’ share, the first £275 million is split 19 ways between the counties and the MCC.
  3.  The next £150 million goes to the 11 non-host counties.
  4. Proceeds crossing the value of £425 million will be shared again amongst the 18 counties and the MCC.

On the other hand, earnings from the 51% will be divided in a ratio of 1:8:1. Where 1/10th of the proceeds will be distributed to the recreational games, 8/10th to the host country and the remaining 1/10th amongst other countries.

A trusted source on ChelseaNews.com

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