Making it Raine: US bank to earn £10m from Hundred franchise sales
The Raine Group is on course to bank around £10m in commission from its role in the sale of the eight Hundred franchises.
Morning Wire has learned that the New-York based bank will earn fees worth two per cent of the price paid for 49 per cent stakes in the franchises sold by the England and Wales Cricket Board.
The ECB has already secured £340m with three sales still to complete and, with four Indian Premier League groups left in the auction – Sunrisers Hyderabad, Kolkata Knight Riders, Royal Challengers Bangalore and Delhi Capitals – will be hopeful of getting over £500m.
The stakes sold by the host venues, such as the 21 per cent of Manchester Originals that Lancashire chiefs have sold to Lucknow Super Giants owner Sanjiv Goenka, are not included.
Raine’s projected earnings will represent one of their biggest fees for securing sport investment and contribute a significant portion of their income this year.
The bank’s advisory role in the sale of 25 per cent of Manchester United to Sir Jim Ratcliffe last year brought in around £25m, while Raine earned £50m for advising World Wrestling Entertainment on its sale to sports and entertainment group Endeavor.
Raine’s sales pitch to investors was criticised as “dangerously overambitious and unsustainable” by Indian Premier League founder Lalit Modi last year, but its bullishness has been strongly vindicated, with all of the franchises selling for more than the ECB’s projections.
The architects of the Hundred, former ECB chief executive and chairman Tom Harrison and Colin Graves respectively, have also been proven right given the money that Raine has helped the much-maligned new competition has brought into the sport.
Ironically much of the initial opposition to the Hundred was led by Surrey’s then-executive team of Richard Gould and Richard Thompson, who in new roles at the ECB have planned and executed the bumper auction.
Arsenal OK Campbell’s Spurs-baiting Google ad
Arsenal’s entertaining habit of poking fun at their rivals, following Myles Lewis-Skelly’s imitation of Erling Haaland’s meditation goal celebration in last Sunday’s 5-1 win over Manchester City, appears to extend to the club’s commercial team.
As a commercial partner of Google, Arsenal were given advance notice of a recent TV advert for the Google Pixel 9 mobile phone, in which Sol Campbell makes fun of the furore caused by his infamous move across the north London divide.
“Take it from me, big moves pay off,” Campbell says direct to camera in the ad which launched last month ahead of the derby, before adding, “if you’re thinking about transferring this January, I say go for it! You’re just switching to something much, much better!”.
Arsenal were shown the advert during the production process, with Google pleasantly surprised that they raised no objections.
Champions League bonanza pays off for TNT
The unparalleled demand for and value of live games was clearly illustrated by the final round of the Champions League matches last week on TNT Sports, which announced a season’s-best 4,785m hours of their programming viewed across 16 live games.
While TNT’s Goals Show Xtra, which was first on the scene with the 64 goals that were scored on Wednesday night, enjoyed its best-ever viewing figures, that was still less than a quarter of the most viewed live game, Aston Villa v Celtic.
Sky Sports executives will have monitored TNT’s figures of the Champions League group climax closely, as they are considering launching a Premier League Goals Show next season, when their new rights package will give them three or four live matches at 2pm on Sundays.
While near-live goals round-ups are clearly attractive to neutral fans, live action still dominates ratings.
Trump invited to Vegas – to watch rugby league
English rugby league fans are set to invade Las Vegas next month, with over 10,000 travel packages having been sold for the Super League clash between Wigan Warriors and Warrington Wolves at the Allegiant Stadium.
Fans of all Super League and several lower division clubs have snapped up tickets for the showpiece weekend, which will also feature two NRL fixtures and an Ashes Test match between the England and Australia women’s teams.
Donald Trump has been invited as a guest of the NRL but has yet to confirm his attendance.
Yorkshire seek Headingley naming rights
Yorkshire County Cricket Club are about to embark on another sales process as they prepare to welcome new investors in the Northern Superchargers Hundred franchise.
Morning Wire has learned that Yorkshire have begun marketing a naming rights deal for Headingley through the club’s commercial department after a previous pitch led by agency Sporting Group International last year failed to bring in a new headline sponsor.
India-based streaming platform Clean Slate sponsored the pavilion at Headingley in 2022 and 2023, but were late in paying the contract and it is unclear whether Yorkshire ever received the full balance.
Warwickshire are also seeking a naming rights partner for Edgbaston, so Yorkshire are entering a competitive market.