by Middlesex is in advanced negotiation with two international investment groups on a financing agreement which would allow the club to build a permanent home far from Lord. A source involved in the discussions indicated that the proposals do not exclude each other, with a final decision to take by the end of the year.
The UXBRIDGE Cricket Club in western London is the favorite site for a new field and a training base, although Middlesex would aim to stage around 70% of their male matches at Lord’s.
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Middlesex has been looking for external investments for about 18 months and, in February, appointed specialists in Oakvale Capital sports games to carry out a property exam. After this review, Middlesex would have resolved to seek a financial partnership which would allow them to build a new land in London to support their rental at Lord’s, rather than selling a stake in the club and taking it in private property, a decision that could have been blocked by their members.
Middlesex has received expressions of interest from various world groups which are already invested in sport, including the NFL and the Indian Premier League. The club prioritized investors with a history in sport rather than investment capital companies, a certain number of funds from America having been repulsed.
Middlesex is also in active discussion with Marylebone Cricket Club to prolong her 12 month lease in Lord’s, who expires at the end of the summer. Although this is considered a formality, the financial conditions have not yet been agreed.
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The MCC remains attached to a proprietary-logger relationship with Middlesex, which has taken place without interruption since 1877, but with the volume of domestic cricket increasing the availability of Lord’s is a problem in addition to the first recent growth of female cricket, with the MCC of Lord. London Spirit.
MCC’s partners in The Hundred, so-called technological titans, clearly indicated that they will want more access to Lord in exchange for their investment of 151 million pounds sterling, while competition could also extend from its format to eight teams, which would mean more games. The Cricket Council of England and Wales also plans to stage female matches as independent events, which would impose other requests for sites such as Lord’s.
Middlesex used the Radlett and the Taylors merchant for the county championship, the T20 blast accessories and a day of cup this season. Last year, they played two games “at home” in Chelmsford in Essex last year, which had a financial meaning, but made the members angry. The club regularly used UXBRIDGE for the championships and matches of a day in the 1980s and 1990s, but has not played there since 2017 because the field must be developed.
In a separate development, Middlesex began to work on a new place for their female and girl operation in Brentford, which will open next year and will be used as a training base for national teams in the Women’s T20 World Cup.
Middlesex women are at the second level of the new county configuration launched this year by the ECB, but hopes to be promoted at a level an extended in 2029.
Middlesex refused to comment.
