Birmingham’s Hundred side has its first outside owners. New York-based Knighthead Capital, already in charge at Birmingham City FC, has finalised a £40 million purchase of 49 percent of Birmingham Phoenix. Companies House records show the paperwork went through on 15 July, making the Americans the first group to complete the England and Wales Cricket Board’s (ECB) long-running equity sale.
Knighthead co-founder Tom Wagner will take a seat on the Phoenix board, joined by colleagues Andrew Shannahan and Kyle Kneisly, both of whom sit on Birmingham City’s board. NFL legend Tom Brady retains a small personal share in Knighthead but, as expected, has no direct role in the cricket project. Warwickshire CCC, Phoenix’s host county, remains the majority owner and keeps four of seven board seats: chair Mark McCafferty, chief executive Stuart Cain, strategy director Craig Flindall and commercial director Adam Lowe.
“We really, genuinely want to see Birmingham continue to develop and grow,” Wagner told the BBC when the deal was first announced. “The Phoenix is a great way to expand the exposure of the city to a broader, more global audience. It’s also a way for us to tie-in to the substantial south Asian community that is here in Birmingham.”
That broader plan revolves around a proposed ‘Sports Quarter’ near the city centre. Knighthead, in tandem with the football club, has floated a 62,000-seat stadium, expanded rail links and a multi-sport events zone. The Phoenix brand, Wagner believes, adds summer visibility and helps convince partners that Birmingham can sustain year-round elite sport.
Operational control of the Phoenix will remain unchanged for this summer’s Hundred, which starts on 5 August and finishes on 31 August. From the 2026 season onwards, Warwickshire and Knighthead will jointly run the men’s and women’s teams, with day-to-day cricket decisions still led by the county’s performance staff.
The ECB had set an April deadline for all eight franchise sales, but legal fine-tuning has pushed most deals into the summer. “It is about the ‘what ifs’,” ECB chief executive Richard Gould said last month. “I hate to think how many sets of lawyers are in on this, but that’s what they’re paid to do.” Insiders suggest several other sales are close, many involving Indian Premier League owners, though it is unclear whether every transaction will be rubber-stamped before the competition starts.
For Warwickshire, the cash injection helps cover Edgbaston upgrades and cushions the finances of a county that, like many, has faced rising costs since the pandemic. For Knighthead, the move creates another sporting foothold in the West Midlands and a visible link between the football and cricket audiences. The south Asian community that packs Edgbaston for India-Pakistan games remains a major draw.
On the field, Phoenix finished seventh in last year’s men’s table and fifth in the women’s, so there is room for improvement. The new partners insist results, commercial growth and community outreach must progress together. It is a familiar refrain, but the money now matches the ambition.
Plenty of unknowns remain—how revenue will be shared, what happens if The Hundred’s format shifts, and how counties without external investors keep pace—but the first deal is finally over the line. Cricket will watch closely to see whether Birmingham’s blueprint can deliver both trophies and sustainable books.
