The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) is “beginning to pursue” non-public funding in The Hundred groups, says chief government Richard Gould.
The Hundred, a 100-ball match launched in 2021, is presently funded by the ECB, with capital filtered right down to the related counties.
Gould stated discussions had led to funding being sought at group stage fairly than within the match itself.
“We’re how that may present itself,” Gould instructed BBC Sport.
“The Hundred is an efficient automobile for personal funding to come back into the sport.”
Personal funding in cricket has grown with the homeowners of Indian Premier League groups – the world’s largest 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 recreation for 2024, however each the lads’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 steady base for a lot of a long time however, typically, so as to have the ability to compete on a worldwide scale we have to herald non-public 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 document 580,000 followers attended matches in 2023, with 41% of tickets bought to households and 30% to ladies.
Nonetheless, the match has confronted criticism from conventional cricket followers, who’re sad with how a number of the 18 counties are represented within the match.
The eight Hundred sides see counties mixed, similar 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 group stage might end in cash being tougher to filter down and groups feeling extra marginalised, Gould stated he didn’t assume that was the case.
“The way in which that our sport is organised and ruled, all the pieces beneath one umbrella, does enable us to guarantee that any cash that’s accessible is invested within the space that’s most acceptable and the place we’ll get probably the most return,” stated Gould.
The ECB are dedicated to the match till 2028 in a broadcast cope with Sky Sports activities, and Gould feels funding will take the match to new ranges over the following 5 years.
“The thrill ranges will considerably improve,” he stated.
“We’ll have the ability to be certain we retain and appeal to all the very best gamers on this planet and have a recreation that both broadcasters, supporters or new followers need to be concerned with.
“I am 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.”
Sam Billings, who captained Oval Invincibles to the 2023 males’s title, instructed BBC Sport: “We need to be the second-best competitors on this planet, so it’s how we do this.
“It is likely to be a partnership, and that may be a actually key phrase, as a result of whether it is and it’s all the time invested again into the material of our recreation then these are the important thing elements, as a result of finally we nonetheless need the English recreation to be extremely sturdy in 50-100 years.”
The 2024 version of The Hundred begins on 23 July, with chosen video games on BBC TV.