Chelsea owner Todd Boehly adds English cricket team to sports portfolio with £40m deal

Chelsea owner Todd Boehly is expanding his portfolio after agreeing to buy a significant stake in the Trent Rockets franchise having failed with a previous bid to buy London-based team

Chelsea owner Todd Boehly is buying a 49 per cent stake in the Trent Rockets after the Hundred franchise became the latest to be auctioned off by the ECB.

American billionaire Boehly had also been linked with striking a deal for the London Spirit franchise last month – only for tech billionaires to purchase a 49 per cent share for £145m with the remaining 51 per cent remaining in the hands of Marylebone Cricket Club.

But undeterred, the Chelsea chairman is set to take up a significant share in the Nottinghamshire-based Rockets worth an estimated £40m via Cain International, the company he shares with fellow Chelsea director Jonathan Goldstein.

Cain have entered a period of exclusivity with Nottinghamshire CCC, who will retain a controlling (51 per cent) stake in the franchise, as first reported by the Telegraph.

Manchester United ’s Glazer family and CVC Capital Partners, who have invested in the Six Nations and La Liga, have also made previously unsuccessful bids – including for the Spirit.

RPSG Group, owners of the Indian Premier League team Lucknow Super Giants, have taken over a majority stake in the Manchester Originals following a bid of £100m. The Glazers had also been initially linked with the Old Trafford-based franchise after Lancashire decided to relinquish their entire stake.

Glamorgan told their members last month they were planning to retain their 51 per cent of the Welsh Fire with the remainder auctioned off to an Indian-American group which bid about £40m. Sunrisers Hyderabad have bought a 100 per cent stake in Northern Superchargers.

Birmingham City’s owners Knighthead Capital have taken up a £40m stake in the Birmingham Phoenix and the Ambanis, who own the Mumbai Indians, have taken up a minority stake in the Oval Invincibles. The Southern Brave remain the only team yet to be auctioned off but an update is expected in the next 24 hours.

The auction has been run by the Raine Group and advised by Deloitte. Raine oversaw the sale of Chelsea to Boehly and his business partners including Bedhad Eghbali in 2022 and were part of the process that saw INEOS take a 25 per cent stake in United in late 2024.

ECB chiefs had initially set a minimum target of £350m from the auction. Proceeds from the Hundred sales will be divvied up between the 18 top counties, Lord’s Marylebone Cricket Club while 10 per cent will go to the recreational game.

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