'Put your worries to rest', says London Spirit investor
Lord's is the prized asset - London Spirit investor
- Published
The leader of the consortium that has agreed a £145m investment in Hundred team London Spirit says any cricket fans concerned about them "doing any silly things should put their worries to rest".
Nikesh Arora, chief executive of cyber security firm Palo Alto, heads a group of Silicon Valley businessmen that won the right to buy a 49% stake in Spirit.
They valued the whole franchise, hosted by the Marylebone Cricket Club at the historic Lord's ground, at around £285m.
India-born Arora told the BBC: "Sport is made great because of its fans, not because of its owners.
"There's nothing we would want to do as a collective which actually disenfranchises the people who are most excited about it."
Sales of stakes in the eight Hundred teams concluded on Wednesday, with Southern Brave going to the co-owners of IPL side Delhi Capitals. In all, the eight teams have been valued at around £967m.
But some fans are concerned the arrival of private investment will lead to more emphasis on the shorter format, erosion of the red-ball game and endanger the future of the 18 first-class counties.
"We don't want to do anything to hurt the franchise. All decisions will be taken in the interest of the franchise," said Arora.
"I don't have a grand plan in my back pocket. I think the bottom line is, can you get great, amazing talent to play the sport? Can we make the matches exciting? Can we make them win? Can we get a lot of people to come in and watch this and be excited about it? That's where we need to go."
In a wide-ranging interview that can be heard in full on the Test Match Special podcast, Arora said:
The £145m for 49% of the Spirit was more than he was expecting to pay
Partnering with Lord's "feels like a pilgrimage"
The Indian Premier League (IPL) provides the "blueprint and aspiration" for The Hundred
The Hundred can be taken "further" in of expansion
He would like top Indian players in The Hundred but it is "not his decision".
- Published12 February
- Published12 February
Competition for a stake in Spirit was always likely to be fierce given the allure of Lord's, the home of cricket.
Arora's group, known as Cricket Investor Holdings Limited, beat off bids from Chelsea owner Todd Boehly, whose Cain International has since taken a 49% stake in Trent Rockets, and the owners of Indian Premier League side Lucknow Super Giants, who have agreed a deal for 70% in Manchester Originals.
Cricket Investor Holdings Limited also includes Egon Durban, the chief executive of Silver Lake Management, Satyan Gajwani, the co-founder of Major League Cricket and vice-chairman of Times Internet, Satya Nadella, the chief executive of Microsoft, Shantanu Narayen the chief executive of Adobe, and Sundar Pichai, the chief executive of Google.
"I grew up in India. A lot of our people in the consortium grew up in similar circumstances. We all come from lower-middle class families where the first thing we did when we came back from school was grab a cricket bat," said Arora.
"This kind of feels like a pilgrimage. If you go to watch a match at Lord's, you're at the home of cricket. Being able to partner with them, being able to do something back with a game that you grew up ionately loving, I don't think there's a feeling that can describe that."
Of the fee agreed, Arora said: "I think it was more than anyone expected!
"We expected some amount of for Lord's because Lord's is the prized asset. If you're going to get involved in something, go after the best. From our perspective this is the best opportunity.
"I think the value of these things is going to be higher in 10 years than it is today.
"From an economics perspective, we don't think we're going to lose money. The question is, how long does it take for this to become an amazing franchise and an amazing league">