ECB's financial projections for The Hundred 'disconnected from reality', says IPL founder Lalit Modi

Sept. 27, 2024, 5:53 p.m.

Read time estimation: 4 minutes.

  2

The England and Wales Cricket Board’s (ECB) financial projections for the profitability of ‘The Hundred’ is largely “disconnected from reality” according to businessman and former cricket administrator Lalit Modi.

Modi also believes The Hundred will find it difficult to attract a global audience like the Indian Premier League (IPL), the league he conceived and founded in 2008, has achieved over the years.

The ECB recently made teams in The Hundred open to investments and is hoping to secure major deals from owners of various IPL franchises, including those who own teams in other leagues around the world.

Advertisement But the former IPL commissioner’s series of posts on microblogging platform X with charted numbers showed that none of The Hundred franchises can be valued at anything between GBP 5 million to 25 million, let alone US$ 1 billion.

"The ECB’s financial projections for The Hundred, particularly beyond 2026, seem overly optimistic and disconnected from reality. 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 figures," Modi wrote on X.

The ECB’s #financial projections for The #Hundred, especially after 2026, seem overly #optimistic and detached from reality. The #International #TV #rights figures seem illogical, considering the #global #competition from other #cricket #leagues like the #IPL. It’s… pic.twitter.com/cFzqtZF4mg

— Lalit Kumar Modi (@LalitKModi) September 26, 2024 The Hundred, where each team plays 100 ball per innings in 65 minutes comprises eight teams — Birmingham Phoenix, London Spirit, Manchester Originals, Northern Superchargers, Oval Invincibles, Southern Brave, Trent Rockets and Welsh Fire.

Advertisement In fact, Modi, who had wanted to buy out the ‘The Hundred’ for US$ 1 billion for perpetuity but ECB wasn’t interested, busted the cricket board’s ambitious claims.

"Domestically, while a potential rise in TV rights from GBP 54 million to GBP 85 million seems possible, the optimistic outlook regarding sponsorship after 2027 appears unrealistic."

"The ECB's expectation of sustained sponsorship growth until 2029-30 appears more like wishful thinking than a grounded prediction,” commented the former BCCI vice-president.

Modi then explained why his “baby” IPL’s revenue generation with media rights of US$ 6.2 billion is a case of 16 years of sustained growth.

"Even considering a favorable outlook for 2027-28, there's no solid evidence to anticipate consistent revenue growth at the predicted level. The ECB's optimistic view contrasts sharply with the IPL, where teams are valued at US$ 1 billion due to 16 years of strong performance.

Advertisement "Based on my analysis, the teams in 'The Hundred' are projected to be worth a mere GBP 5 million to GBP 25 million in the best-case scenario, with Manchester potentially reaching GBP 8.5 million.”

In fact, Modi claimed that ‘The Hundred’ can’t even match the revenue generated by the Caribbean Premier League (CPL).

“Worse still, ‘The Hundred’ struggles to match even the Caribbean Premier League’s profitability, a sobering indication of its financial frailty.

"The Hundred's financial prospects seem uncertain, with projections that lack credibility and appear overly optimistic and unsustainable," he added.

Advertisement With PTI inputs