Former IPL commissioner Lalit Modi’s generous 10-year proposal for the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) to host their franchise-based competition, “The Hundred,” has been rejected. Reportedly, the ECB turned down Modi’s request to continue having cordial ties with the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), a major cricketing stakeholder.
‘The Hundred’ was scheduled to take place between July 1 and August 15, the height of the English summer, and Modi, who has been living in London since he was handed a life ban by the BCCI in 2013,. In meetings with important members of the ECB, including Vikram Banerjee and Richard Gould, his delegates presented a ten-year proposal to raise private funding to finance and own the tournament. Nevertheless, the ECB decided against engaging in further talks with Modi.
“The head of the European Central Bank, Richard Thompson, said at the time that he would only take bids of ‘a few billion’. The ECB then went after a plan to sell teams’ stock while keeping control of the competition, according to the British Daily.
The ECB is worried about possible complexities from a cooperation with Lalit Modi, fearing it could strain their ties with the powerful BCCI, even if it values the independence of its signature property, “The Hundred.” It is worth noting that the Bridgepoint Group had previously made the ECB an offer of a similar nature, valuing the tournament at GBP 400 million for a 75% ownership stake.
According to Lalit Modi, “The Hundred” is worth USD 100 million a year.
Lalit Modi had stated that he was prepared to enlist investors for a 10-team competition in a recent interview. Citing ‘The Hundred’s’ inefficiency, he had suggested to the ECB a switch to a Twenty20 format. The offer sheet listed a team purse of approximately INR 83 crore, or USD 10 million per season, which is marginally less than the IPL’s INR 95 crore. Over the course of ten years, Modi calculated the competition’s yearly value to be USD 100 million.
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