Finance
In late 2025, the ECB finalised deals that valued the eight teams at over £975 million. [5] This restructuring was designed to secure the long-term financial health of the game, with over £500 million set to be reinvested into English and Welsh cricket, including a £50 million commitment to grassroots initiatives.
The 2026 season is the first where "TeamCos"—consisting of the investors and host venues—assumes full operational control. The buyers include a mix of Indian Premier League (IPL) owners, American private equity firms, and tech entrepreneurs. The completed partnerships for the 2026 season are as follows: [6]
- London Spirit: A consortium of Silicon Valley tech entrepreneurs (including executives from Google and Microsoft) bought the 49% stake for £145m (the highest valuation).
- Oval Invincibles: Reliance Industries (owners of Mumbai Indians) bought the 49% stake for £60m.
- Manchester Originals: RPSG Group (owners of Lucknow Super Giants) took a 70% stake for £81m, with Lancashire retaining 30%.
- Northern Superchargers: Sun TV Network (owners of Sunrisers Hyderabad) purchased 100% of the team for £100m.
- Birmingham Phoenix: Knighthead Capital (owners of Birmingham City FC) acquired 49% for £40m.
- Welsh Fire: Sanjay Govil (owner of Washington Freedom) bought 50% for £40m.
- Southern Brave: GMR Group (co-owners of Delhi Capitals) bought 49% and is also taking over the host county, Hampshire.
- Trent Rockets: Cain International & Ares Management jointly bought 49% for just under £40m.
As in previous editions, eight city-based teams will compete for the men's and women's titles during 21 July to 16 August 2026.
The teams will play a total of 64 matches in the group stage (32 men's, 32 women's). All matches will be held on the same day at the same grounds, with one ticket granting access to both men's and women's contests.
Each team will play four matches at home and four away, including one match against every other side in the competition and a bonus match against their nearest regional rivals. After the league stage, the top three teams will progress to the knockout stage to decide the champions. The second- and third-placed teams will face each other in the eliminator at The Oval in London. The winner of the eliminator then met the league-topping team in the final at Lord's.
| Eliminator | | | Final | |
| | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | First-placed team | | |
| | Second-placed team | | | | | Winner of Eliminator | | |
| | Third-placed team | | | | | |
Player selection process
For the 2026 season of The Hundred, player recruitment is conducted through a structured, three-stage system designed to balance competitive fairness with strategic flexibility for teams. [7]
Pre-auction signings and retention
Each franchise may make up to four pre-auction signings or retentions between mid-November and the end of January. Of these, a maximum of three can be direct signings limited to overseas players or England centrally contracted players, while at least one must be a retention from the existing squad, which can include domestic players as well. Teams may include up to two England centrally contracted players and up to two overseas players among their pre-auction signings. No "right to match (RTM)" option is available at this stage. [7]
To maintain balance and competitiveness, pre-auction signings reduce each team's available salary cap ahead of the auction according to a tiered cumulative deduction model. For the men's competition, deductions range from £350,000 for one signing to £950,000 for four signings. In the women's competition, corresponding deductions range from £130,000 to £360,000. [7]
Auction
Following the direct signing window, an auction will be held on 11 & 12 March to complete squad formation. [8] Teams are required to recruit the remaining players within their salary cap: 16–18 players for men's squads and 15 for women's squads. For the 2026 season, the overall salary pot is set at £2.05 million for men's teams and £880,000 for women's teams, reflecting increased investment in player payments. [9] [10]
Vitality Wildcard
After the main auction, the Vitality Wildcard offers teams an additional mechanism to recruit players based on strong performances in the domestic T20 Blast competitions. Players who are not selected in the main auction can still earn contracts through this pathway, reinforcing the link between domestic form and participation in The Hundred. [7]
