Rajasthan Royals’ takeover bid at Yorkshire could spark a flurry of Indian investment in English cricket with IPL franchises seeking to buy shares in Hundred teams
- If the move goes through, Rajasthan Royals will take full control at Headingley
- Yorkshire need to raise funds to pay £15m owed to ex-chairman Colin Graves
- Executives are considering the offer, which will be put to the board this month
The Rajasthan Royals’ takeover bid at Yorkshire could trigger a flurry of Indian investment in English cricket with several other IPL franchises seeking to buy shares in the eight Hundred teams.
Mail Sport has been told that the ECB would have no objection to the Royals taking control at Yorkshire following our revelation of their £25million offer to buy the club, while the governing body are also considering changes to the structure of the Hundred to facilitate foreign investment.
The eight city-based Hundred teams are currently fully owned by the ECB, but plans are in place to hand over 33 per cent of each franchise to its constituent counties and permit private investors to buy 33 per cent.
The ECB would retain their one-third ownership of each team as well as owning the overall competition, with more detailed talks with the counties planned later this month.
The ECB’s proposal would enable them to cut their spending on the Hundred significantly at a time when they under financial pressure, as well as increasing the chances of attracting foreign investors.
Rajasthan Royals have launched a takeover bid for Yorkshire County Cricket Club (above)
Sources told Mail Sport Rajasthan have plans to bring in their own executives to run the club
Yorkshire need to raise funds to pay £15m owed to the family trust of ex-chairman Colin Graves
Mail Sport revealed earlier this week that the ECB have shelved plans to increase the match fees paid to England’s male players after committing to parity for the women’s players, a key demand of the damning Independent Commission for Equity in Cricket report published earlier this summer.
IPL sources have told Mail Sport that most of the 10 Indian franchises would want to buy into the Hundred teams if they became available, with interest from Delhi Capitals and Mumbai Indians understood to be particularly advanced. Many of the IPL owners spend much of the summer in England and have been regularly seen at Hundred games over the last two years.
Any investment in the Hundred would have to be signed off by the all-powerful Board of Cricket for Control in India. A clause in the IPL staging agreement states that teams cannot invest in areas that are seen as competitors to the IPL or BCCI, although they have already permitted their franchises to buy teams in the Caribbean, South Africa, United States and UAE so are unlikely to object to investment in England.
Rajasthan’s offer to Yorkshire appears to have divided opinion in the county ahead of a potential vote of the membership, which would follow any acceptance by the Board. Legendary former Yorkshire player, umpire and club president Dickie Bird writes in Mail Sport today that a Rajasthan takeover would be a “very big success,” but ex-chairman Robin Smith takes the opposite view, telling Mail Sport that “a sale of one of the English game’s foremost clubs to outside interests should be unthinkable.”
As Mail Sport reported Rajasthan have offered a convertible loan to Yorkshire which would ultimately see them take full control at Headingley. The other main offer on the table is a proposal from Mike Ashley to buy the stadium and lease it back to the club, which is an avenue Rajasthan could also explore if Yorkshire are insistent on remaining a members’ club.
Source: Read Full Article
