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Lalit Modi file photo©Instagram
Unwilling to jeopardize its cordial relationship with the all-powerful BCCI, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) has rejected a lucrative 10-year takeover offer for its franchise-based ownership ‘The Hundred’ from former IPL commissioner Lalit Modi. reported the Daily Telegraph. Modi received a lifetime ban from the BCCI in 2013 for “gross misconduct and indiscipline” related to the bids for two new IPL franchises in 2010. Modi left India and has lived in London since then. Modi had planned the competition in the middle of the English summer, between July 1 and August 15. “Modi’s representatives met Vikram Banerjee, chief operating officer of the England and Wales Cricket Board, who is the de facto boss of the Hundred, and chief executive Richard Gould to establish “He has made an offer to 10 years to buy the Hundred and finance it through private investments. However, the ECB will not hold talks with Modi,” the British newspaper reported.
The ECB is not willing to completely relinquish ownership of its flagship property, but at the same time is concerned about the potential risks of a partnership as “dealing with Modi would jeopardize its relationship with the BCCI.” It should be noted that the ECB had received a similar offer from the Bridgepoint group worth £400 million for a 75 percent stake in “The Hundred.”
“At the time, Richard Thompson, president of the ECB, said that he would only consider offers of “a few billion” and since then the ECB has followed a strategy of selling shares in the teams, with the board of directors maintaining ownership of the team. competence.” the newspaper further reported.
Modi told Telegraph Sport that he has “got investors willing to put money into a 10-team tournament, but told the ECB that the Hundred format is not working and should be converted into a Twenty20 competition.” The team’s purse as per the offer sheet would have been $10 million per season (approximately INR 83 Crore as against INR 95 Cr for IPL).
Modi’s estimated valuation of the competition was put at $100 million a year for 10 years.
In fact, the former IPL czar had advised the ECB not to invite more than two IPL franchises to have teams of their own.
Their mantra was “franchises should be English owned and managed with minimal input from India.” Modi had been in touch with the English cricket establishment for the last 18 months and wanted to make it the second biggest league after the IPL.
“I would give them a guarantee of a billion dollars,” Modi told Telegraph Sport.
“Many people have contacted me interested in supporting it and I made a proposal to the ECB, but it had many conditions. The Hundred format does not work and only two franchises should be sold to Indian buyers. It will only work if it is an English competition and not Indocentric,” he said.
The ECB believes it can raise £100m by selling equity (shares).
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