Lalit Modi has spoken out in response to the ECB’s decision to privatise the ownership of teams in The Hundred, with the erstwhile ECB-owned teams being opened up to outside investments and releasing an information memorandum, which the former IPL chairman called intentionally misleading.
Modi took issue with the projections made by the ECB in their proposal regarding overseas television rights, calling the information memorandum “not worth the paper it’s printed on” and “more like a ponzi scheme” on his X account.
A report published by Telegraph Sport revealed that the 87-page document, shared to prospective investors by American investment bankers Raine Group, projected a massive increase in money The Hundred would earn from television rights domestically and also overseas.
https://t.co/AN6PZ2zgSy
This article by @NHoultCricket is well researched and to the point. Let’s wait and see what responses come from ECB. As currently the IM is not worth the paper it’s printed on. More like a ponzi scheme.
— Lalit Kumar Modi (@LalitKModi) September 27, 2024
As per the report, domestic TV rights are expected to rise from 54 million GBP in 2025 to 85 million GBP in 2029. The rise is expected to be even greater overseas: the ECB projects American rights to take a meteoric rise from 200,000 GBP in 2025 to 15 million GBP in 2030, while the Indian TV rights are similar, from 1.3 million GBP in 2025 to 1.8 GBP in 2026, before making the leap to 15 million GBP in 2030.
“The ECB’s financial projections for The Hundred, particularly beyond 2026, appear overly optimistic and disconnected from reality,” stated Modi on his X account. “The International TV rights figures make little sense, given the global competition from other cricket leagues like the IPL. It’s unlikely the Hundred will attract the necessary international audience to justify these inflated numbers.”
“Domestically, while an increase in TV rights from £54 million to £85 million is plausible, the optimism around sponsorship post-2027 is far-fetched. The ECB’s hope for sustained sponsorship growth into 2029-30 seems more like wishful thinking than a realistic forecast,” he said. Modi has also pointed out that the individual valuation of franchises was excessive, optimistic figures based on unrealistic projections for the future.
‘Is completely a hoodwink’
Modi was even more scathing about the matter in a comment made to Cricbuzz: “They’re trying to fool people like this. International rights are worth zero. If you remove that figure, you remove the sponsorship increase. International market is completely a hoodwink as far as I’m concerned. If you look at all the leagues, none of them are able to make any revenue from overseas markets,” said the founder of the IPL, referencing leagues such as the SA20 and the Big Bash League.
With Indian men are still not permitted to play in franchise tournaments outside of the IPL, the ECB’s valuations remain heavily dependent on Indian involvement in the Hundred, with owners of IPL teams reportedly interested in investing in the franchises.
“My concern now is that they are trying to lure current [IPL] owners into this non-starter league and building a hype around it that has no justification or guarantees on numbers,” said Modi in another post on X.
ECB chief Richard Gould responded to Modi’s comments on BBC Radio. “We are very confident in the strength of the game in England and Wales. We see the amount of interest, not just in the Hundred, but in English cricket, both internally and globally. I don’t recognise his (Modi’s) particular comments. We’ve had incredible levels of interest,” claimed Gould. “We are looking to use the money to underpin the county game for the next generation, the next 20 to 25 years.”
The sale of Hundred franchises to investors is part of a big privatisation drive being undertaken by the ECB, which has already seen the Delhi Capitals buy a stake in Hampshire, and the Sunrisers Hyderabad unit in talks with Yorkshire. With the ECB keen to make their franchise tournament a competitor for leagues such as the SA20, Big Bash, and CPL, it remains to be seen if their valuations and projections for upcoming years are met.
