Lalit Modi Warns IPL Franchise On Hundred Investment: 'Ponzi Scheme, Trying To Fool People'

Indian Premier League founder and former chairman Lalit Modi has ripped into the financial projections made by the England and Wales Cricket Board to lure investors ahead of the planned sale of 49% stake of all franchises in The Hundred cricket tournament. (More Cricket News)

Modi has described ECB's privatisation plans for the 4-year-old 100-ball tournament as 'ponzi scheme' and said that the board is "trying to fool people".

Multiple IPL franchises are believed to be among the interested parties to buy the 49% stake. Modi has cautioned them calling the tournament a "non-starter league" over which the ECB is unnecessarily creating hype.

In a series of tweets Modi put out ECB's financial projections for the tournament as a whole and each of the eight teams and slammed the board for indicating sums that were "disconnected from reality".

"The ECB’s financial projections for The Hundred, particularly beyond 2026, appear overly optimistic and disconnected from reality. The International TV rights figures make little sense, given the global competition from other cricket leagues like the IPL. It’s unlikely The Hundred will attract the necessary international audience to justify these inflated numbers," Modi wrote in one of his tweets.

ECB has projected an 800% rise in revenue from the Indian market from 2029. Modi believes this is a "hoodwink".

Talking to Cricbuzz, Modi said: "They're trying to fool people like this. International rights are worth zero. If you remove that figure, you remove the sponsorship increase. International market is completely a hoodwink as far as I'm concerned. If you look at all the leagues, none of them are able to make any revenue from overseas markets - whether the SA20 (in South Africa), the Big Bash (in Australia), ILT20 (in UAE) or the Caribbean Premier League (CPL)."

One of Modi's tweet read: "My concern now is that they are trying to lure current @iplt20 owners into this non starter league and building a hype around it that has no justification or guarantees on numbers. Basically a big fat #ponzischeme."

Talking about the value of the franchises, Modi again highlighted that they are grossly overvalued. "They are hoping to get a valuation of 300 million. That is where the issue lies. You can buy the team at $5 million. Maybe, for Lords, you can fancy it and put it for $25 million. It's not a worthwhile proposition," Modi told Cricbuzz.

ECB have not commented on Modi's tweets so far but a senior journalist, quoted by The Guardian, agreed with the IPL founder's assessment.