New Zealand Cricket breaks new ground with MLC investment to partner in expansion

New Zealand Cricket (NZC) has become the first national governing body to invest directly in an overseas T20 league after joining forces with Major League Cricket (MLC) to launch one of the competition's new teams in 2027.

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As reported by ESPNcricinfo, MLC will increase from its current six teams to eight in 2027, and there are ambitions to grow further by 2031, with the possibility a franchise could be based in Canada.

The terms have been agreed, and NZC has become investors, with US-based True North Sports (TNS), which will be run by MLC co-founders Sameer Mehta and Vijay Srinivasan, to operate one of the new franchises. A NZC statement said that among the private equity investors in TNS are 49ers Enterprises, the investment arm of the NFL's San Francisco 49ers.

NZC will therefore part-own the team - with an option to invest in a second franchise at a later date - while also providing high-performance and operational support, including coaching, management and support staff, which it will be paid for, as well as integrating the franchise into New Zealand’s domestic high-performance system. In a second phase of development, NZC will provide expertise in cricket infrastructure and turf management.

New South Wales and Victoria partnered with Washington Freedom and San Francisco Unicorns respectively at the initial launch of MLC in 2023, but the depth of NZC’s deal goes significantly further.

Scott Weenink, the NZC chief executive, said it was vital that the sport looked beyond traditional sources of income amid the rapidly changing landscape.