The Hundred: New owners relax salary rules to attract top talent
The Hundred’s new overseas investors have rung the changes for next year’s competition, confirming that an auction will replace the player draft and that franchises will have new maximum and minimum salary budgets.
In moves designed to attract more top global talent to the summer white-ball cricket tournament, individual player salaries will be uncapped and market-driven – as they are in the Indian Premier League and other T20 franchise competitions.
Teams will be able to sign four overseas players, up from three, build squads of up to 18 – an increase from historic 15-person rosters – and offer multi-year contracts for the first time.
It is expected to see The Hundred’s franchises engaged in bidding wars, with teams’ salary pots increasing by 45 per cent to £2.05m in the men’s competition and by 100 per cent to £880,000 in the women’s.
The changes come after the foreign investors who bought stakes of varying sizes in the eight franchises, who include Silicon Valley-based tech entrepreneurs and owners of IPL teams, gained a say in the running for the first time.
“This is a hugely exciting time for The Hundred,” said the tournament’s managing director Vikram Banerjee.
“These changes will help us make the competition even better, ensuring we get the best players in the world and improving the standard of cricket and level of entertainment further again.
“Working alongside our new partners we’ve been exploring how we can take The Hundred forward and we’ve decided that moving to an auction will allow us to improve the competition.
“For a competition that has always been proud to innovate, we’re delighted to be holding the first auction in major UK sport.
“In making this decision, we have stuck to three key principles: i) ensuring The Hundred attracts the best players in the world, ii) maintaining a competitive balance between the squads, iii) guaranteeing whatever changes we make work across the men’s and women’s games.”
Hundred changes will lure ‘world’s best players’
Further changes set to take effect next year will see franchises allowed to strike their own kit and commercial partner deals. Previously these were managed by the England and Wales Cricket Board on a pen-competition basis.
The bigger salary pots will particularly benefit the lowest-paid female players, whose base price will jump 50 per cent to £15,000 for the month-long event.
“The decision to increase the men’s salary pot by 45 per cent has been taken because market forces in the men’s game necessitate a more significant uplift to ensure we’re able to attract the best players in the world,” added Banerjee.
“The salary pot for the women’s competition in the first year of The Hundred was £120,000, with the top-earning players earning £15,000 – the pot has risen for the third year in a row.
“With the pot now £880,000, top-earning players are set to earn in the region of £130,000, as well as a significant increase in salaries for those at base price.
“Salaries in The Hundred women’s competition are very competitive, and they compare favourably with other franchise cricket competitions and across the landscape of women’s sport.
“It’s been fantastic to work alongside our new partners, they’re already bringing energy and expertise and I know that together we can make The Hundred even better, for fans and players alike.”