London Spirit’s new part-owners, Silicon Valley-based consortium Cricket Investor Holdings, have agreed a kit deal with Nike for the Hundred franchise which will begin next year. 

The Nike deal is the first bespoke commercial contract secured by one of the Hundred teams, as sponsorship deals have previously been sold centrally by the England and Wales Cricket Board, with New Balance providing all eight kits for the first five seasons of the competition.  

The ECB’s contract with New Balance contains a break clause after this year, however, enabling the franchises to negotiate individual deals from now on, and London Spirit have been quickest off the mark in bringing in a new partner. Other lucrative commercial deals are also understood to be in the pipeline as the new joint owners leverage their contacts.

Cricket Investor Holdings, which is led by the chief executives of Microsoft, Google and Palo Alto Networks, have paid £145m for 49 per cent of the London Spirit and already appear to be adding value to the Lord’s-based franchise.

Marylebone Cricket Club remains the 51 per cent majority owner, although plans for London Spirit to play in MCC bacon-and-egg colours next season have been shelved. 

Six of the eight Hundred sales have been completed, but negotiations over new investment in Oval Invincibles and Trent Rockets, from the Ambani family and a group involving Chelsea owner Todd Boehly respectively, are proving more complex and will not be finished before the start of this year’s competition next Tuesday. 

London Spirit and MCC declined to comment. 

Premier League ref cam adoption delayed 

The Premier League wanted to use ref cams in its Summer Series, which is being broadcast live by Sky Sports, but were unable to gain approval from global lawmakers Ifab before the pre-season tournament began in New York last weekend. 

Ref cams were used during the Club World Cup this summer to provide extra in-game footage to broadcasters, and the Premier League’s TV rights holders are eager to see them introduced to the competition next season. 

Ifab has received requests from a number of leading domestic leagues to pilot ref cams, which are worn by officials to offer viewers a unique perspective, but is yet to approve any other trials. 

The Premier League would ultimately like to see ref cams used in their own competition but, having missed out on a Summer Series trial, are unlikely to bring them in for the start of the season even if approval is granted. 

Lionesses breakthrough came in 2019 

England’s first Women’s Euros victory in 2022 is widely remembered as the tipping point for the game in this country, but in terms of attracting mass audiences the Lionesses’ run to the World Cup semi-final under Phil Neville three years earlier was the real game-changer.