The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) is “beginning to pursue” personal funding in The Hundred groups, says chief govt Richard Gould.
The Hundred, a 100-ball match launched in 2021, is at the moment funded by the ECB, with capital filtered all the way down to the related counties.
Gould stated discussions had led to funding being sought at workforce stage quite than within the match itself.
“We’re taking a look at how that may present itself,” Gould instructed BBC Sport.
“The Hundred is an efficient car for personal funding to return into the sport.”
Non-public funding in cricket has grown with the homeowners of Indian Premier League groups – the world’s greatest franchise league – investing in sides in South Africa, the US and the United Arab Emirates.
The ECB has invested an extra £100,000 in salaries for the ladies’s sport for 2024, however each the boys’s and ladies’s gamers earn considerably lower than in franchise tournaments in India, which has made it tough to draw the world’s finest abroad gamers.
“Most of our counties are privately-owned members golf equipment. That has offered an awesome secure base for quite a few many years however, generally, so as to have the ability to compete on a world scale we have to usher in personal funding additionally,” stated Gould at a launch occasion earlier than the brand new English home season begins on Friday.
The Hundred was created by the ECB to draw a extra numerous viewers and to suit into shorter broadcast slots.
A file 580,000 followers attended matches in 2023, with 41% of tickets offered to households and 30% to ladies.
Nonetheless, the match has confronted criticism from conventional cricket followers, who’re sad with how among the 18 counties are represented within the match.
The eight Hundred sides see counties mixed, akin to Yorkshire and Durham at Northern Superchargers, however others face prolonged journeys with followers of Somerset and Gloucestershire having Cardiff-based Welsh Fireplace as their nearest aspect.
Requested if there was a hazard that funding at workforce stage might end in cash being more durable to filter down and groups feeling extra marginalised, Gould stated he didn’t assume that was the case.
“The best way that our sport is organised and ruled, every little thing underneath one umbrella, does permit us to ensure that any cash that’s accessible is invested within the space that’s most applicable and the place we’ll get essentially the most return,” stated Gould.
The ECB are dedicated to the match till 2028 in a broadcast take care of Sky Sports activities, and Gould feels funding will take the match to new ranges over the subsequent 5 years.
“The thrill ranges will considerably enhance,” he stated.
“We’ll be capable to ensure that we retain and entice all one of the best gamers on the planet and have a sport that both broadcasters, supporters or new followers need to be concerned with.
“I’m very excited by what that would deliver for the entire ecosystem of cricket, whether or not that’s franchise led groups or county golf equipment.”
The 2024 version of The Hundred begins on 23 July, with chosen video games on BBC TV.
