County cricket is about to receive £520 million from the sale of shares in the Hundred. A fresh report, launched at the Kia Oval, says the money could steady several struggling clubs – but only if it is handled with more care than rugby showed after its own private-equity deal.
The 89-page Leonard Curtis Cricket Finance Report was put together by sports-finance academics, journalists and former players. Professor Rob Wilson, one of the authors, did not sugar-coat the figures. He told the audience that, without the forthcoming cash, “three or four” counties might already be staring at bankruptcy.
Key numbers set the scene. In 2023 Surrey, Warwickshire and Lancashire – all Test venues – generated 44 per cent of domestic cricket’s £306.1 million income. At the other end Leicestershire, Derbyshire and Northamptonshire combined for just 5.56 per cent. The study calls it a “yawning gap” between the haves and the have-nots.
Wilson accepts the gap, yet sees a route forward. “English cricket really is on the cusp of a transformational injection of capital,” he said. “That represents an extraordinary opportunity for the game. But it has to be managed with real prudence, long-term thinking and probably a degree of creativity.”
Former England captain Michael Vaughan penned the foreword and spoke at the launch. He argued the windfall allows counties to “look to the future rather than simply survive from one summer to the next”. Smaller clubs, he believes, should channel funds into coaching pathways and ground upgrades instead of trying to mirror the Test grounds pound for pound. “There needs to be a strategic plan of how to create a sustainable county cricket club,” Vaughan said. “I would like to see counties being transparent with each other and sharing knowledge about what works for them. Sometimes petty rivalries prevent that from happening and divisions between the Test host counties and the others develop.”
The warning signs come from rugby union. In 2018 Premiership Rugby sold a 27 per cent stake to CVC Capital Partners. A Leonard Curtis study of that sport, published last year, found every top-flight club made a loss in 2022-23 and seven of ten were technically insolvent. Wasps, Worcester Warriors and London Irish have since folded. Investigators blamed “old-school thinking” and short-term spending.
County cricket, says Wilson, starts from a stronger place. In simple terms, the England and Wales Cricket Board still controls when and how the Hundred money is released, and can tie payments to sensible business plans. That level of oversight did not exist in rugby. Yet fault lines remain: some members fear the bulk of the cash will stick to the larger centres; smaller clubs counter that they carry community value impossible to price on a spreadsheet.
The report suggests ring-fencing a slice of the proceeds for grassroots projects and women’s cricket, both of which can broaden audiences and balance sheets over time. It also urges counties to think less about signing marquee overseas players and more about roofs that don’t leak, floodlights that work and ticketing systems that tempt families back.
So, optimism with caveats. The cheques will clear and the overdrafts will shrink, but the next decade will test whether first-class counties can turn a rare lump sum into lasting sustainability. As Wilson reminded the room, cricket only has one chance to get this right.
