Manchester United co-owners the Glazers have reportedly stepped away from a bid to buy a stake in Hundred Cricket team Manchester Originals.
The Mail Sport have reported that the family had expressed an interest in investing in a stake of the Old Trafford franchise recently. However, the report claims that they had been warned against a move by those close to the process over their controversial tenure at United.
Underachievement and widespread fan protest has been a major talking point in recent years. United announced an increase in match tickets for members to £66 for the remainder of the season, a decision that resulted in protests in November.
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On Monday, RPSG Group, owners of the IPL's richest club, won the auction to take a 71 per cent stake in Manchester Originals. The move sees them become the first external investor to own a majority share in a Hundred franchise.
It has also been reported that the Glazers attempted to purchase a stake in the London Spirit, who were up for action. However, 49 per cent was bought by a Silicon Valley coalition for £145million.
The Glazers' failed attempt at investing in the Originals is a prime example of the impact their mis-management at United has had on the city of Manchester. Chief Business of Football Writer for MEN Sport, Dave Powell, has explained the Glazers' interest in The Hundred franchises and what their next move in Twenty20 Cricket could be.
"That the Glazers have an interest in taking a slice of the action when it came to The Hundred auction shouldn’t be too much of a surprise," Powell explained. “When the Indian Premier League was expanding back in 2021, Avram Glazer, through his Lancer Capital firm, bid on both the Ahmedabad and Lucknow franchises.
"Lancer were defeated on both, with reports at the time claiming that their bid was the lowest from all those who threw their hat into the ring. Glazer saw the potential in the IPL and the sport of cricket, by far and away India’s most popular sport which was, at the time, ready to renegotiate a bumper new TV deal.
“But the following year would see Glazer and Lancer land ownership of the United Arab Emirates-based Desert Vipers, a team that plays short-form Twenty20 cricket in the Emirati International T20 League.
“The short-form version of the game is something that US investors are starting to take a real interest in on the back of the hosting of the T20 World Cup by the USA and West Indies last year. The belief among many is that it could well be the next major sport to see a surge in team valuations based on growing viewership and spiking media rights values.
“But in looking closely at the Manchester Originals and being a willing bidder for the Hundred auction in the UK, the Glazers ran the risk of already negatively impacting their investment due to the low esteem in which they are held in Manchester owing to their ownership of United, which they acquired back in 2005 in a leveraged buyout, heaping hundreds of millions of pounds worth of debt onto the club overnight.
“It was the RPSG Group that they lost out to when it came to the Originals, the same group that won the bid for the Lucknow Super Giants IPL franchise in 2021.
“That left the Glazers looking at franchises in other areas, notably London, but they were blown out of the water by a winning bid of £145m. But the continued interest in the sport should be instructive as to where not only the Glazers see the future benefits in sport, but also wider investment groups.
"For the Originals, not being part-owned by a group reviled by supporters of the city’s largest, most prominent sports team is probably seen as something of a bullet dodged.”
