15/08/2025
Since its launch in 2021, The Hundred has been cricket’s novel experiment—an innovative 100-ball format designed to win over new, younger audiences. The eight teams in the competition – Birmingham Phoenix, London Spirit, Manchester Originals, Northern Superchargers, Oval Invincibles, Southern Brave, Trent Rockets, and Welsh Fire – were launched as new, city-centric franchises, detached from the traditional county structure. Such is the success of the competition, private investors are swooping in for a piece of the pie, and in so doing, also bringing their own branding imprint on the respective teams.
One of the reported changes for 2026 will be the renaming and rebranding of Manchester Originals to become Manchester Super Giants in 2026. This would bring the branding of the Manchester based team in alignment with that of other teams owned by the new investor RPSG Group around the world, including Lucknow Super Giants in the Indian Premier League and Durban Super Giants who compete in the South African twenty over competition. There are also rumours that The Oval Invincibles, The Hundred team based at the Kennington Oval in London, are in the eyesight of Reliance Industries, the owner of The Mumbai Indians IPL team, for a rebrand as MI London. Reliance Industries also own ‘MI’ teams based in Cape Town and New York City.
Unified team branding – a lesson from Red Bull
Prior to the IPL franchise owners’ moves on The Hundred competition, a textbook example of the success of collective branding of multiple sports teams is that of the energy drink manufacturer Red Bull and their ownership and eponymous branding of sports teams, including football clubs RB Leipzig and New York Red Bulls, and the Red Bull Racing Formula One team, with each carrying the familiar Red Bull logo trade mark and colour schemes to ensure a consistent brand message to current and potential supporters. Red Bulls’ recent acquisition and rebranding of Newcastle Falcons rugby team to Newcastle Red Bulls marks Red Bull’s first foray in to the world of rugby.
It is perhaps not difficult to see why acquiring a sport team and rebranding it in line with an existing established brand is a successful commercial model. To name just a few benefits, it affords the rebranded team more leverage in commanding higher sponsorship deals, helps tap in to the existing fan base of the other teams in ‘the family’ and helps to bring greater recognition to the rebranded team.
It is likely that we will see further such models of sporting team ownership and branding in the future.
This article is for general information only. Its content is not a statement of the law on any subject and does not constitute advice. Please contact Reddie & Grose LLP for advice before taking any action in reliance on it.
