Former IPL chair claims Hundred franchise sale is ‘big fat Ponzi scheme’

The Hundred has been described as “a big fat Ponzi scheme” by the former chairman of the Indian Premier League as he doubled down on criticisms of the competition’s revenue projections after leaking key sections of the confidential document drafted by the England and Wales Cricket Board to pitch the tournament to foreign investors.

In a series of posts across 24 hours on X, Lalit Modi, who also founded the IPL, published the ECB’s financial projections for the tournament as a whole and for each of its eight franchises, calling them “overly optimistic”. Modi described the Hundred as “a struggling non-starter league” and said “the numbers put in document [sic] are definitely not achievable”. Projected sponsorship growth, he said, “seems more like wishful thinking than a realistic forecast”.

The ECB declined to respond to Modi’s statements, and believes they are part of the posturing that sometimes accompanies a negotiating process. Earlier this year Modi was involved in a $1bn (£747m) offer to buy the entire competition – with the intention of turning it into a T20 tournament – which was rebuffed. When an unrelated bid of £400m for a 75% stake was also rejected last year Richard Thompson, the ECB’s chairman, said it would take a bid of “a few billion” to convince them to sell.

The ECB is now attempting to find buyers for its 49% stake in each franchise, valuing them at up to £150m each. “Should they expect that? Absolutely not,” Modi wrote. “Based on the information memorandum a 100% stake in a team would be between £5m and £9m outside London teams, and maximum if one really wants a trophy asset is London teams closer to £25m.”

The ECB document predicts that broadcast income will rise from £39.8m this year to £107.2m by 2029, and sponsorship from £5.7m to £22.2m in the same period, and to £32.6m three years later. However, it also stipulates that “no representation, warranty, assurance or undertaking is given as to the achievement or reasonableness of any future projections”.

Modi has been based in London since 2010, when he was accused of attempting to rig the auction of two new IPL franchises, and suspended from his role as the tournament’s chairman. Three years later he was banned for life from roles in cricket administration by the Board of Control for Cricket in India for what they described as “indiscipline and misconduct”. He denied all allegations against him.

A senior cricket administrator said they “totally agree” the ECB have overstated likely financial returns, and that the sale was “possibly doomed”, adding: “I think they are going about it the wrong way, and the consequences will be far reaching and potentially very damaging.”