The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) avoided potential embarrassment after all eight The Hundred franchises secured shirt sponsors from non-gambling companies ahead of the opening match. Notably, the ECB decided not to allow betting companies to sponsor teams from the 2027 season.
New private investors took control of the franchise following a stake sale last year. With the freedom to negotiate their own commercial partnerships, all eight teams moved away from the centralized KP Snacks deal used during the first five seasons of the Hundred and acquired sponsors from a variety of industries.
Hundred franchises secure non-gambling shirt sponsors ahead of 2026 season
The Premier League banned front-of-shirt betting sponsors ahead of the 2026–27 season. As a result, the ECB allowed The Hundred teams to sign gambling sponsorships for the 2026 season as a last resort to ensure financial sustainability.
All eight franchises secured sponsors before the start of the 2026 season. Only three teams had front-of-shirt partners when the kits were unveiled on 1 June, but the remaining five later signed deals with an online estate agent, a global logistics company, a health insurance provider and financial services firms.
Vikram Banerjee, managing director of The Hundred, confirmed that visible gambling sponsorship will be banned from 2027 to protect the tournament’s family-friendly image. He said the ECB has taken a tougher stance against betting sponsorship than any other major cricket league.
“It will be banned from next year,” Vikram Banerjee, managing director of The Hundred, told Cricinfo. “You have to acknowledge that the gambling and betting industry is a huge part of sports sponsorship… [But] There will be no betting sponsorship visible from next year, which is a powerful stance and stronger than any other cricket league.”
We are very conscious of the family audience – Vikram Banerjee
In May, the board agreed to allow betting sponsorship only as a last resort. The policy also included a minimum sponsorship value and banned gambling logos from children’s replica shirts.
“We – myself and the ECB – are very conscious of the family audience and what we are trying to do as a brand,” Banerjee said. “Our position was to see if we could ban it for this year. We had a good discussion and [Hundred] The board agrees with me that this is an opportunity for us to take a stance that is stronger than any other sport in the world.”
The one-year temporary rule also allows players to wear shirts without sponsors for religious or personal reasons. Vikram Banerjee said the transition period after private investors took control of the Hundred’s teams helped the franchise deal with the tough sponsorship market and major operational changes.
“We felt as a board that this year – with all the operational changes that are happening, all the changes that are happening, plus, obviously, it’s quite a challenging market with the Premier League and all the rest of it – [that] “Just having a one-year transition period has helped some teams move forward this year,” Banerjee said.
I don’t know about any other sports league – Vikram Banerjee
Vikram Banerjee said that this change will make it easier for both new and existing fans to follow the game. Private investors bought stakes worth more than £500 million in eight franchises. After a slow start, ticket sales have improved, and the ECB is confident about the future of the Hundred.
“Given the unprecedented transformation we have gone through over the last 12 months, I don’t know of any other sports league that has done this,” Banerjee said. “It’s taken a lot of learning, a lot of hard work to get to this point… I’m very excited about where we are and what we can accomplish, and what the fans will see starting Tuesday.”
“The idea was never to have something different for different people,” Banerjee said. “That set, I can see what we were trying to do. But, like anything where you’re innovating and trying to grow and do new things, some hit the ground running and some not so much… If we strip it back and go back to ‘balls,’ I think it works really well.”
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