By james art 
NFL legend Tom Brady could soon be seen in Edgbaston after the Knighthead Capital Management LLC, where the former New England Patriots and Tampa Bay QuarterBack has a business partnership, has raised a stake in one hundred franchising Birmingham Phoenix. Espncricinfo learned that Knighthead made a winning offer of 82 million pounds on Thursday, the day of the ECB sale of eight hundred franchises.
The Knighthead amount offer was equivalent to 100% franchise value, which means that they will pay nearly £ 41 million for a 49% share in Phoenix. None of the stakeholders, including the ECB, Warickshire – the County host Phoenix – and Knighthead made a comment.
The Knighthead Brady Association can prove a shot in the hand for a hundred if it can attract interest – both fans and the commercial network – to a cricket, a sport that tries to expand its print. Brady is already having a presence in Birmingham after buying the ownership of minorities in Birmingham City, a third -level football club in England.
It is believed that Knighthead has announced the winner through the sealed offer for an offer, which was introduced by the ECB for franchises with only two investors in the list with a short list. While the Global Fund Manager CVC Capital had to be initially on the short list list to buy a share in Phoenix, it cannot be confirmed if they make an offer.
Knighthead bought Birmingham City in 2023 and proved to be popular with the club’s supporters, despite their release to League 1 last season. Tom Wagner, the co -founder of Knighthead and the club’s chairman, has promised to invest over £ 2 billion in a new “sports neighborhood” in the city and bought a new 48 -acre site for a new stadium.
At the other auction held on Thursday, CVC, which owns Gujarat Titans in IPL, were among the three contenders for the purchase of a 49% stake in oval invincible, which were eventually collected by the Indian business Behemot Reliance Ltd, owners of Indians , for about £ 123 million (100% value). RIL made the highest offer to a virtual live auction, a process determined by the ECB to determine the winner, where there are more than two investors in the short list list. They defeated the rival deals from the CVC and the consortium of global technology giants, including heads of Microsoft, Google, Adobe, Palo Alto Networks and Times Digital.
RIL were also on the list with a short list for Manchester Originals. Of course, RIL had successful conversations with Surrey Management, hosting an invincible county, with both sides agreeing to synergize cricket solutions. Another important factor was Invincibles, who have won the competition of the pennies of men in the last two seasons, such as serial title contenders, something that RIL has put in its investments in the T20 franchise chain.
CVC losing offers and technology consortium could not yet be confirmed. As part of the auction of the virtual auction, he gave himself a code name. Although the amount is not discovered, the base price is determined by the ECB by the offers for the evaluation of the floors submitted by the investors in the list in the second round of the Sales Process in December. During the live auction, each offer was divided by 15 minutes with gradual offers in steps of 3 million pounds.
The next step for the winners will turn them on to seal the agreement eight weeks after the ECB auction process, which is due to end on February 10th. This process will involve deciding whether to pay the money in advance or in contributions distributed over five years.