The Hundred sales: Yorkshire become first team to sell entire franchise 
2025-02-05
Category: sports

Yorkshire have become the first team to sell their entire stake in a Hundred team.The Sun Group, owners of Indian Premier League side Sunrisers Hyderabad, have paid just over Â£100m for a 100% stake in Northern Superchargers, who are based at Yorkshire's home Headingley.Superchargers are the sixth team to secure the investment, with the Sun Group the first to take full ownership of a franchise.Last week Surrey negotiated a Â£60m price with the owners of Mumbai Indians for a 49% stake in the Oval Invincibles, while keeping the 51% given to them by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB).Warwickshire agreed a 49% sale of Birmingham Phoenix to Birmingham City owners Knighthead Capital for Â£40m and Glamorgan sold the same stake in Welsh Fire to IT entrepreneur Sanjay Govil for Â£40m.A price of Â£145m for 49% of Lord's-based London Spirit was agreed between MCC and a Silicon Valley consortium led by Nikesh Arora, while Lancashire became the first county to sell part of their share when agreeing a deal for 70% of the Originals with the owners of Lucknow Super Giants for around Â£81m.Nottinghamshire are also set to sell a 49% stake in Trent Rockets when the sales resume before the weekend.Billionaire Greek shipping magnate Evangelos Marinakis, who owns Nottingham Forest, was linked with a bid for the Rockets last year.However, a source close to the bidding said Marinakis did not follow up on his initial interest in the Trent Bridge-based franchise.Nottinghamshire have not publicly courted bids from the IPL, but at least one unnamed team are said to be interested.Southern Brave are likely to go to the co-owners of Delhi Capitals after their buyout of hosts Hampshire.The six sales so far come to a total of around Â£466m, the majority of which will be split among the 18 first-class counties, Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) and recreational game.It means the value of the six teams in their entirety comes to around Â£740m.Yorkshire's sale comes after chair Colin Graves said the club, which is owned by members, must become a private structure in order to survive a financial crisis. It owes almost Â£15m to the Graves family trust. All deals now enter an eight-week exclusivity period in order to finalise the partnerships.The Sun Group also own Sunrisers Eastern Cape in the South African T20 league, the SA20.