New owners prompt rebrands, free shirts and broadcast attention in The Hundred

Manchester Super Giants, Sunrisers Leeds and other franchises have introduced new names, kit colours and ownership-driven initiatives in The Hundred in the first season following private investment this year.

A social-media video of Sunrisers Leeds players attempting to sing "Marching on together!" — shared after a win and later deleted — has been cited as an example of the identity challenges facing newly rebranded teams, with Sunrisers having taken the place of the Northern Superchargers. The article says history and tradition are difficult to manufacture but that creating a clear team identity is important to reach new audiences.

Lancashire chief executive Daniel Gidney, who is also on the board of Manchester Super Giants (MSG), said there was a need "to go big and loud": "If you're trying to launch a new brand in a new market, in the UK particularly, in a city that is dominated by football, you've got to go big and loud," he told BBC Sport. One MSG initiative saw almost 30,000 free shirts given to fans who bought tickets, a move Gidney said was "extraordinarily different" and "had a massive impact, much more than I thought."

Lancashire decided to forego a potentially lower kit deal to prioritise building the MSG brand and planned to pursue a more lucrative supplier arrangement in later years; the county continues to sell its own merchandise at Old Trafford while MSG products are not yet stocked in the club shop. Gidney said Lancashire were able to "retain effectively 50% merchandise arrangements" with MSG and that the franchise could be used as "a bit of a pilot", with a possibility of applying lessons to the T20 Blast competition.

London Spirit kept blue and black from their previous kits while adding red and yellow Marylebone Cricket Club stripes, with replica shirts priced at £55 and supplies earmarked for 2026 and 2027 already exhausted. Spirit, described as the most valuable franchise after a £145m investment from a consortium of tech billionaires, has seen the number of MCC members attending Hundred fixtures double from last year to this year.

Despite those commercial moves, overall crowd numbers and ticket sales are reported to be marginally down compared with last year, though tournament director Vikram Banerjee said: "It's impossible to overstate the scale of operational change the competition has gone through this season, but we're really happy with where we are and what has been delivered this year." The article notes that the vocal atmosphere at some grounds, such as the "MSG! MSG! MSG!" chant at Old Trafford, has taken on an IPL-like feel.

The piece records a continuing split in opinion inside cricket, with one prominent investor telling BBC Sport they were surprised by the negativity from 'traditional County Championship fans' despite good relations between some franchises and their county partners. Glamorgan chair Mark Rhydderch-Roberts highlighted demographic shifts at Sophia Gardens, saying: "46% of ticket buyers are new to Sophia Gardens, 30% are female buyers, and 46% are family tickets," and Lancashire's Gidney added: "It's down to my job to try and convert those to come and watch the Blast and ultimately the County Championship" and "It's lifting everybody up."

Broadcast arrangements have changed in India, with the competition moving from FanCode to JioStar this year, placing The Hundred on the same platform used for the Indian Premier League, and modest broadcast audience growth has been recorded. ECB chief executive Richard Gould said: "The Indian market is marginal to us when you look at the relative broadcast values from overseas," adding: "This is a UK competition, largely for a UK fanbase and a UK market, and that will always be our strength and our focus," and later: "We're at the start of that journey. We need to make sure that we focus on what's right for our market."

Negotiations over a new broadcast deal are due to begin next year, a development owners will be watching closely as they assess the commercial impact of the ownership changes, kit strategies and audience shifts this season.