- Former Australian captain Steve Waugh, Glenn Maxwell and Kyle Mills counted as team owners
- Steve Smith and Mitch Marsh among players signed up by Amsterdam team
- ETPL sanctioned by ICC and co-owned by Cricket Ireland
The European Twenty20 Premier League (ETPL) has unveiled the owners of its first three teams as it prepares to launch later this year.
The ETPL announced that three of its six franchises will be based in Amsterdam, Edinburgh and Belfast respectively. Former Australian captain Steve Waugh is among those to co-own the Amsterdam-based outfit, heading the Abel Consortium, and is joined by Australian hockey great Jamie Dwyer and businessman Tim Thomas.
The Amsterdam club, which will partner with Australian state body Queensland Cricket and the Big Bash’s Brisbane Heat, have already confirmed the participation of Australian cricket icon Steve Smith, with countryman Mitch Marsh also installed as captain.
“I’ve always been selective about where I invest my time and energy in cricket,” Waugh said. “Franchise cricket has expanded quickly, but this opportunity stood out because it is driven by aspiration and long-term thinking.
“In many ways, it marks a return to the game for me — but in a very different role. This is about helping uphold the standards and spirit of cricket while supporting its growth into Europe, which remains the game’s last great frontier.”
Meanwhile, the Edinburgh team will be co-owned by former New Zealand internationals Kyle Mills and Nathan McCullum, and will be aligned with New Zealand domestic body Otago Cricket. The Belfast franchise has been bought by the Floodlight Capital Consortium, with Australian T20 big-hitter Glenn Maxwell also on-board as a co-owner.
According to BBC Sport, the three teams were each sold for UK£11.1 million (US$14.9 million) over a ten-year period. The remaining clubs, to be based in Dublin, Glasgow and Rotterdam, will be sold by the end of February, with one Indian Premier League (IPL) team said to hold interest in acquiring a franchise.
Each franchise is to have a total salary budget of UK£1.1 million (US$1.48 million) each season, with the first edition to be held on 26th August.
The ETPL is operated as a joint venture between Cricket Ireland and sports management firm Rules X. It counts Bollywood actor Abhishek Bachchan as an investor in the competition, with Oakvale Capital brought in to lead its capital rise last year.
The league has been formally sanctioned by the International Cricket Council (ICC) and was meant to commence last year before its launch date was pushed back.
The league’s co-founders previously told SportsPro it is forecasting net revenue of US$11.2 million at league level in 2026, rising to US$16.8 million in 2030. The ETPL also plans to set out a revenue distribution model where the league aims to hand out at least “70 per cent of the common pool” to the six teams during the first three years.
