NFL legend Tom Brady could soon be seen at Edgbaston Cricket Ground after his Knighthead Capital Management LLC has just taken a stake in Hundred franchise, Birmingham Phoenix.
The Knighthead - where the former New England Patriots and Tampa Bay quarterback has a business partnership - made a £82million bid during the ECB's sale of all eight franchises. It was said that they were set to pay £41million for the 49% stake in Phoenix. The seven times Super Bowl winners’ association with Knighthead could prove a shot in the arm for the Hundred – for both fans and commercially – and, in general, to cricket, a sport that has been attempting for several decades to widen its footprint, having already made a presence in the city after buying minority ownership in Birmingham City F.C.
Knighthead bought football club in 2023. Tom Wagner, Knighthead's co-founder and the League One club's chair, has pledged to invest over £2 billion in a new "sports quarter" having bought a new 48-acre site for a new stadium. Knighthead made their winning bid on the opening day of the ECB's sale of the eight Hundred franchises.
The amount Knighthead bid was equivalent to 100% value of the franchise. None of the stakeholders, including the ECB, Warwickshire - Phoenix's host county - and Knighthead have made any comment.
