There have been growing reports about England and Wales Cricket Board's (ECB) readiness to sell a portion of the shares of each of the eight teams in the Hundred competition, due to financial issues in several county clubs.
The front runners to show interest in purchasing stakes in the English franchise also own teams in the Indian Premier League (IPL). The purchase is also likely to extend to the respective franchise's county clubs.
According to reports from Telegraph UK, Sunrisers Hyderabad (SRH) are in talks with Yorkshire cricket club for a £50 million takeover, after a bid from Rajasthan Royals had failed.
Earlier, Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) had shown interest in purchasing stakes in English county clubs Hampshire and Yorkshire.
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Will Sunrisers Hyderabad takeover English county club Yorkshire?
Colin Greaves who returned as the chairman of Yorkshire is reported to have said in a letter to the club's members that the cricket club is fighting for its survival due to financial losses.
Greaves plans to take the club private, but to do so he will need the support of at least 75% of the votes in favour of the move, provided that a minimum of 50% of Yorkshire's 6000 members take part in the ballot next month.
The 76-year-old chairman revealed that the club could go bust without investment from private parties due to huge losses of close to £9 million in recent years.
"Unfortunately, there is no doubt that without swift and decisive action, YCCC (Yorkshire County Cricket Club) will be fighting for its survival during 2024," Graves wrote to the members.
"The club is approaching borrowing limits and owes crucial operating partners considerable sums, all while being consigned to further financial losses in 2024," he added.
That is where the IPL franchises who are some of the rightest cricket clubs in the world step in to help the English clubs like Yorkshire, who are desperate for financial support.
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Proposals and talks between Yorkshire and IPL franchises so far
While the talks are still underway with Kavya Maran-owned SRH, however, the club's earlier talks with Rajasthan Royals had collapsed due to disagreements in the structure of the proposed deal.
RR earlier proposed a £25 million deal to buy Headingley, and lease it back to the club last September before talks, which collapsed. Later, the Indian franchise came up with a second proposal to pay for their stake in Yorkshire with additional borrowing rather than direct investment.
The deal would have been unacceptable to both the club’s members and the ECB, due to Yorkshire's prior debts of around £15 million to the Colin Graves Trust and it would not have made much sense to further increase the burden.
This report comes during a time when several English clubs have found themselves in a difficult financial position. Recently, another IPL franchise Delhi Capitals had agreed to buy full stakes at the English county club Hampshire in a deal worth £120m, and a 51% majority shareholder stake in the Hundred franchise Southern Brave.
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