RR, SRH and LSG in a three-way battle to acquire Yorkshire - reports

According to reports on Friday, August 23, three IPL franchises Rajasthan Royals, Sunrisers Hyderabad and Lucknow Super Giants are in a three-way battle to acquire the English county team Yorkshire. SRH and LSG have entered the race following the stalling of talks with RR. Meanwhile, apart from the club, the corporate that takes over Yorkshire will also own the Headingley Cricket Ground. A deal is expected to go through in the ongoing calendar year as several Indian businessmen have shown interest in acquiring county clubs and The Hundred franchises. Just a week before the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) invited them to own stakes in The Hundred and the discussion for the same is still ongoing.

RR, SRH and LSG in a three-way battle to acquire Yorkshire - reports

Rajasthan Royals were close to sealing Yorkshire’s ownership with a bid worth £25 million in 2023. The English county club has been struggling for funds and that would have solved their problems. However, the deal collapsed after Colin Greaves returned to power in 2024 as the Yorkshire chairman. After returning to his position, he called for private investors, which once again interested the inaugural IPL champions Rajasthan Royals.

The Rajasthan group proposed a deal again but this time through the mode of additional borrowing, as opposed to direct investment. The £15 million debt of the club will not be cleared as they would still owe the amount they have borrowed from the Royals. Yorkshire refused the deal as they did not want to replace the debt with another one. However, the franchise has not given up and is still in talks to acquire the club.

In the meantime, two other corporates have joined the race, as the Sun Group, which owns Sunrisers Hyderabad in the IPL and Sunrisers Eastern Cape in SA20, has shown interest and offered £50 million to Yorkshire - twice what the Royals offered initially. No deal has been finalised, however, as Yorkshire are still in talks with other interested parties. One of them is the Goenka group which owns the Lucknow Super Giants in the IPL and Durban Super Giants in SA20. As per Wisden, they have not put in a bid as the talks are ongoing. They were interested in acquiring Hampshire earlier but the GMR group, co-owner of Delhi Capitals, secured the deal with a £120 million offer.