ECB reports 5% fall in The Hundred 2026 ticket sales amid rebrands and ownership changes
The England and Wales Cricket Board said on 15 August 2026 that The Hundred's 2026 season drew 550,000 ticket sales, down just over 5% from 580,000 the previous year, with organisers citing soaring temperatures and mixed crowd figures across venues.
The tournament's sixth edition was the first after the ECB sold stakes in all eight teams to private owners, a process that generated £975m, and comes amid renewed debate about The Hundred's place in the summer calendar. The ECB noted that its two strongest years for sales, 2023 and 2025, coincided with an Ashes series and an India men's tour, and said demographic targets held steady: 22% of tickets went to juniors, 40% to families and 28% to female attendees.
Several franchises underwent rebranding ahead of the season: Northern Superchargers became Sunrisers Leeds, Manchester Originals became the Super Giants and the men's dominant identity moved from Oval Invincibles to MI London, while Welsh Fire, Birmingham Phoenix, London Spirit and Trent Rockets largely retained their names and kits. Southern Brave altered their colours from green and black to navy and red, reflecting varying degrees of change at each club.
Attendance patterns varied by ground. Numbers at Headingley and Old Trafford fell after rebranding, Southampton's Utilita Bowl recovered from a slow start with its first men's game drawing 8,452 fans compared with 12,549 for the equivalent fixture in 2025, and Cardiff's Sophia Gardens recorded 11,796 for the Fire fixture against MI London after two midweek 11:30 BST starts for their women's team and a record crowd on a Saturday night.
London fixtures produced the largest crowds: the derby between Spirit and MI London attracted 27,721 spectators, a record for any group stage match in the tournament's history. By contrast, The Oval reported 10,271 for the women's game and 20,124 for the men's on Friday and was not close to a sellout despite the city teams' overall strong attendance performance.
Tournament director Vikram Banerjee told BBC Sport he regarded 2026 as a "better edition" than last year and "one of the best" in The Hundred's history, adding: "The quality now is second only to the IPL, by a clear distance in both the men's and women's games." He also said: "Our broadcast numbers are looking good, our online audiences are generating great numbers, and we're growing. We're doing great stuff, so I think it has been our best year." Banerjee described crowd figures as just "one measure" and pointed to building "fandom" and "engagement" numbers, noting the season was the most viewed across The Hundred's own social media channels.
The sale of teams transferred responsibility for marketing and ticketing to the new owners, and pricing varied by venue with some adult tickets at The Oval reaching highs of £55 for a day covering both the women's and men's games, while most grounds offered advance adult tickets between £20 and £30 and the ECB maintained a £5 junior price everywhere. ECB chief executive Richard Gould said: "It'll take time because there are new brands, but there's a lot more attachment that fans can now have with the teams because they're owned by the clubs and the investors, rather than all being owned centrally by the ECB," and added: "We would like to see even more people coming to the grounds as attendances were more or less flat. It was a slower start and then built towards the end. "The weather's been perfect, but the economy's not that great. "When you look at the changes we've seen in terms of branding and team names, there was always going to be a bit of a reset moment. But I've got absolute confidence that we're in a really strong position."
The Hundred now advances to the 2026 finals, with organisers emphasising growing broadcast and online engagement while acknowledging attendances need to improve.
