Leonard Curtis Cricket Finance Report co-author points to growing challenges facing clubs without Hundred franchise

• Prof Rob Wilson warns host counties’ advantages are establishing a “virtuous circle of success” which looks set to become further entrenched following last year’s equity sales in The Hundred teams.
• With The Hundred player auction highlighting increased earning opportunities in franchise cricket, Leonard Curtis director and former Gloucestershire and Glamorgan batting all-rounder David Brown says: “Counties without diversified commercial income may struggle to compete for talent as the salary environment adjusts.”
• As non-host counties look to keep up, speculation has been growing over fresh private investment coming into the game, and Middlesex are actively exploring demutualisation in an attempt to improve their fortunes. Prof Wilson says: “The data suggests maintaining the status quo is unlikely to close the competitive gap.”

Professor Rob Wilson, co-author of the Leonard Curtis Cricket Finance Report, has warned that counties who do not host a Hundred franchise face an uphill battle to keep up with wealthier rivals both on and off the field – despite the £520m windfall from the franchise competition.

With the 2026 County Championship getting underway this Friday, 3rd April, financial powerhouse Surrey – who won the Division One title three times in a row before finishing second in 2025 – are once again most bookies’ favourites to earn the champions' pennant.

Meanwhile, albeit in an extreme case, the challenges facing non-host counties have been highlighted by the plight of Sussex, who will start their County Championship campaign with a 12-point deduction after sanctions were imposed by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) due to "sustained operating losses".

Prof Wilson, who is a professor of applied sport finance and dean at UCFB, said: “The Leonard Curtis Cricket Finance Report is unequivocal on one central point: sustained on-field success in county cricket is structurally linked to financial strength.

“While occasional outperformance is possible, over a ten-year cycle the Financial Performance Index demonstrates that clubs with stronger revenues, healthier balance sheets and controlled wage ratios consistently rank higher competitively.

“The same names appear repeatedly at the top of both the revenue and performance tables because financial capacity enables investment in playing talent, infrastructure and cricket operations. This is not a coincidence – it is a structural and strategic outcome.”

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“Leading counties benefit from reinforcing advantages”

Surrey – who host the newly named MI London in The Hundred – are ranked top by some distance in the Financial Performance Index featured in the Leonard Curtis Cricket Finance Report 2025, measuring each county’s financial and sporting results from 2014 to 2023.

With a lower score in the Index desirable, Surrey have a score of 4.93, two-and-a-half times superior to that of non-host Leicestershire, the lowest ranked county on 12.38.

The seven host counties all feature in the top ten of the Index, and the average score of those counties is 7.25, compared with 9.07 for the non-hosts.

Prof Wilson said the in-built strengths of the host counties – with Test match grounds that generate strong, consistent revenue streams throughout the year – are only likely to become further entrenched following last year’s equity sales in The Hundred’s eight franchises.

“The leading counties benefit from three reinforcing advantages: multipurpose, revenue-generating venues operating 365 days per year; strong commercial operations beyond cricket; and host status within The Hundred ecosystem,” he explained.

“Asset ownership, diversified income and access to franchise ecosystems create resilience and competitive depth while also becoming a virtuous circle of success.”

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Prospect of fresh external investment for non-hosts

As the 11 non-host clubs attempt to close the gap with the other seven counties, speculation has been growing over the prospect of fresh external investment coming into the domestic game to help boost facilities and ultimately support additional spending on playing squads – which cannot be funded by The Hundred windfall.

Last year, it was reported that investors who missed out on a Hundred franchise were keen to buy stakes in the county game, with at least six non-host clubs including Essex, Sussex and Somerset said to have been approached.

Meanwhile, Leicestershire appointed sports investment agency Pinto Capital to explore financing options to fund future development plans, including a proposed £60m ground redevelopment.

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Middlesex actively exploring demutualisation

For most counties, accessing private investment would require demutualisation – the shift from a mutual, member-owned structure to private ownership. Of the 18 first-class counties, 15 are mutually owned, with Hampshire, Northamptonshire and Durham the three exceptions.

Middlesex – who despite being synonymous with Lord’s are a non-host county, as they are tenants rather than owners at the home of cricket – are now actively exploring demutualisation and looking to get an indicative vote on the issue from members in 2027.

Since 2016, when they last won the County Championship, Middlesex’s performances on the field have dipped markedly, with average finishing positions of 13th in the four-day competition and 14th in the T20 Blast.

The county has also suffered from a series of off-field issues – in 2023 they were placed in special measures by the ECB over financial mismanagement – and pressure has been mounting on the club in the run-up to the 2026 season, with a group of former players calling for the county’s chair Richard Sykes to resign.

Middlesex were ranked third from bottom in the Financial Performance Index featured in the Leonard Curtis Cricket Finance Report 2025, with a score of 10.68.

The county relies on the ECB and Lord’s owners the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) for around 70% of their annual revenues – a stark contrast to London rivals Surrey, whose ECB payment accounted for just 6% of their total income in 2023.

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“Ground ownership translates into equity strength”

David Brown, a Leonard Curtis director and former batting all-rounder for Gloucestershire and Glamorgan, observes that as Middlesex look to compete for trophies once again, demutualisation – while “not always a silver bullet” – would enable the club to access fresh capital for investment in their own facilities and playing squad.

“For Middlesex, the challenge is clear,” he said. “The highest performing counties generate substantial non-cricket income through conferencing, events, hospitality and real estate utilisation which means that ground ownership translates into equity strength.

“Without assets, revenue generation options are naturally limited. For Middlesex, whose primary venue relationship is structurally different from most counties, this presents a unique constraint.

“The club does not control a fully commercialised stadium asset in the way, for instance, Surrey or Lancashire do. That presents a structural, rather than operational, disadvantage.”

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Hundred player auction highlights rising expectations over player wages

While many of Middlesex’s challenges are specific to them, the difficulties facing all non-host counties are being heightened by rising expectations over player wages, driven by growing competition from global short-form franchise cricket.

Those pressures were highlighted by the first player auction for The Hundred, held on 11th and 12th March, as the competition switched from its previous draft system. Sussex all-rounder James Coles fetched the highest price in the men's auction, with London Spirit paying £390,000 for the 21-year-old.

Brown – who played 24 first-class matches and 73 List A and T20 games between 2003 and 2011 – pointed out that while “player spend must be sustainable relative to revenue, competitive squads require credible investment”.

“Counties without diversified commercial income may struggle to compete for talent as the salary environment adjusts,” he said. “Clubs with stronger revenue bases can sustain deeper squads, higher-quality overseas recruitment and stronger pathways without destabilising their balance sheets.”

He added: “Middlesex’s current salary capacity reflects its revenue capacity which, in fairness, is precisely what sustainable advice would suggest was preferable. However, given the ambition is to return to winning ways, the financial model must expand first.”

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“Status quo is unlikely to close the competitive gap”

Commenting on Middlesex’s plans, Prof Wilson said: “Demutualisation, in this context, would, or should not be, about abandoning heritage. It is about modernising governance to access the capital required for competitive sustainability.

“Our report demonstrates that modern county cricket sustainability increasingly depends on asset optimisation, revenue diversification, balance sheet resilience, and strategic capital. If external investment is required to unlock those levers, organisational structure must allow it.

“The data suggests maintaining the status quo is unlikely to close the competitive gap. The debate, ultimately, is about whether Middlesex wants to manage decline reactively or shape its future proactively.”

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