The ECB has pledged to avoid an "IPL takeover" of English cricket after the latest deadline in the Hundred's sales process arrived with significant American interest. Prospective investors were given until Monday to submit bids in the second round of the process, with each host county or club now preparing to choose their two preferred partners for a joint venture.
As many as eight of the ten IPL franchises are understood to be represented in the process by either their owners or co-owners, and have held extensive talks with counties in the past two months. But there has also been serious interest from private equity and US-based sports investors, including some who are already involved in English football.
ESPNcricinfo understands that Avram Glazer, the co-owner of Manchester United, has submitted two second-round bids. Cain International, founded by Chelsea co-owner Jonathan Goldstein, and Knighthead Capital, who own Birmingham City, have also reportedly been involved in the second round of talks with host counties.
The ECB, which hopes to raise a minimum of £350 million from the sales process, has indicated that it would ideally prefer a spread of investors to a scenario in which all eight have similar backgrounds. In an interview in the new edition of Wisden Cricket Monthly, the board's chairman Richard Thompson said there was "a huge amount of American money" on the table.
"This isn't going to end up being an IPL takeover," Thompson said. "There's a huge amount of American money involved - very sophisticated investors who understand franchise sport. We invented sport, they invented the franchise, and they're looking long-term.
"They know we've got the best time zone in the world. And if you're looking to maximise the media rights, you look at the fact that rugby and football have got such incredibly successful domestic products, and we haven't, really. They can see how unvalued that is.
"A lot of those American investors have had huge success investing in the Premier League and feel that the way that English law is structured, the way there is this tribalism and passion for sport in this country, they've seen that success play out through football and think, 'well, that can play out just as easily in cricket, if we invest well'."
IPL franchises have invested heavily in the three major T20 leagues that have launched in the last two years. Between them, they have stakes in four out of the six Major League Cricket (MLC) franchises, three of the six ILT20 franchises in the UAE, and all six teams in South Africa's SA20.
Sanjay Govil, a tech entrepreneur who owns Washington Freedom in MLC, is also understood to have submitted multiple bids for stakes in Hundred franchises. CVC Capital Partners, which owns Gujarat Titans in the IPL, and Ares Management are both understood to be among the private equity firms still involved in the process, with both interested in Oval Invincibles.
Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenny, the Hollywood actors and co-owners of Welsh football club Wrexham AFC, are understood to have been in contact with the ECB and its financial advisors regarding their interest in Welsh Fire. It is unclear if they submitted a second-round bid before Monday's deadline.
The money raised from the sale of 49% stakes in each of the eight Hundred franchises will be split among the 18 counties and MCC, barring 10% ring-fenced for recreational cricket. Richard Gould, the ECB's chief executive, recently described the sale as "a once-in-a-generation" chance to secure "a significant capital injection" into English cricket.
The level of interest in the Hundred was described as "unprecedented" by Tim Bridge, the leader of the sports business group at Deloitte, one of the ECB's financial advisors, at a recent Lancashire members' forum. "The level of interest really does make us have initial confidence that we're going to reach a very successful outcome," he said.
He also suggested that some counties may not choose to partner with the highest bidder. "If we make decisions that actually leave some value on the table, that will be for the good of the sport, and that's an important principle… In other processes, you talk about maximising value; here, we're talking about optimising value, and that's a subtle change but it's really important."
Lancashire, who have spoken to potential partners from the US but retain their desire to work with an IPL franchise, are among the host clubs to have indicated a preference to keep hold of their 51% stake in their Hundred team. Others include MCC (London Spirit), Surrey (Oval Invincibles) and Warwickshire (Birmingham Phoenix).
After each host club has shortlisted two potential investors, they will resume discussions which will run into the new year. In late January, each club will nominate a preferred partner and enter into a period of exclusivity with them, with the ambition of signing detailed contracts by the start of April.
One source suggested that the nascent threat of a boycott of the Hundred by players disillusioned by the ECB's new policy on no-objection certificates has had no impact of note on the second round of bids.