The English cricket county club, Hampshire Cricket is reportedly fully acquired by Delhi Capitals (DC), the Indian Premier League (IPL) team, for £120 million. With this deal, Hampshire has become the first county team to be owned by an international franchise.
According to a source, the details of the arrangement have been submitted to the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) and the GMR Group, which owns DC, would gain full control of Hampshire. GMR Group will also possess a 51% part in The Hundred franchise, Southern Brave, with the possibility of acquiring full control.
In January, it was claimed that such a move was in the works after speculation circulated that the ECB was looking into the possibility of providing 50% ownership in a few hundred teams and allowing counties to sell their shares.
Rod Bransgrove, the former chairman of Hampshire, resigned last year after 23 years in office. Nonetheless, he went on to own more than 60% of the shares. However, since Hampshire is one of only three counties that are not member-owned, like Northamptonshire and Durham, Bransgrove had the choice of selling his interests without fan input.
In addition to Delhi Capitals, Lucknow Super Giants (LSG) also expressed an interest in obtaining Hampshire. The £120 million transaction includes the club’s debts of about £60 million. Hampshire previously worked with another IPL team, Rajasthan Royals (RR), in T20s from 2010 to 2013, under the name Hampshire Royals.
GMR Group owns a 50% share in Delhi Capitals, which compete in both the IPL and the Women’s Premier League (WPL). They also control Dubai Capitals in the DP World International League T20 (ILT20) and a stake in Seattle Orcas of Major League Cricket (MLC) in the United States.