Abhishek Bachchan-backed European T20 Premier League eyes $20 million fundraise

The European T20 Premier League (ETPL), a franchise-based tournament backed by actor Abhishek Bachchan, is looking to raise $20 million as it prepares to launch in the last week of August, according to officials familiar with the plans.

The league’s owners are in talks with private equity funds and high-net-worth individuals. ETPL will feature six teams, of which three franchises have already been sold, while the remaining three are in the process of being finalised. Each team will pay a franchise fee of $1.5 million.

The league will feature city-based teams in major European markets, with inaugural franchises in Amsterdam, Edinburgh, and Belfast, and will be played in a globally aligned broadcast window. India will be a key market for both viewership and the property’s monetisation.


The Amsterdam franchise will be owned by a group led by Australian great Steve Waugh, alongside Jamie Dwyer and Tim Thomas. The Edinburgh franchise will be owned by former New Zealand internationals Nathan McCullum and Kyle Mills. The Belfast franchise will be owned by Australian all-rounder Glenn Maxwell, along with Rohan Lund and strategic partners to be announced.

Sources said Reliance Industries Limited (RIL) is expected to be among the team owners.

ETPL is an ICC-sanctioned, multi-country franchise league scheduled to begin in 2026. It is owned and operated through a joint venture between Rules Global (Rules X) and Cricket Ireland, an ICC Full Member. The league is supported by strategic partnerships with Cricket Scotland and the Royal Dutch Cricket Association.

Rules Global has four partners, including Bachchan, Saurav Banerjee, Priyanka Kaul, and Dhiraj Malhotra.

“The first boost in the arm is that franchise cricket has become successful the world over. Here is a market that does not have a T20 franchise league and one that has the potential to be huge. You do not need to reinvent the wheel, but obviously we want to take the wheel to newer roads and horizons,” Bachchan told ET.

“We are bullish on the ETPL, and I think there is huge potential in Europe to showcase some of the world’s greatest talent coming to play on these shores, while allowing local cricketing talent to learn and interact with some of the best in the game. The eventual goal is to create local heroes from these teams who can burst onto the world stage,” he added.

Banerjee said ETPL has adopted a centralised revenue model designed to accelerate monetisation and achieve break even sooner. He said revenue distribution will see 80% of the central pool shared with franchises in the first two years, 75% in years three to five, and 70% from year six onwards. Overall, the league will follow an 80:20 revenue-sharing model.

“We really like the way the league has designed the economics for the franchises. It has created a model that is operationally cost-efficient, with multiple revenue streams. We believe this should allow franchises to reach break even within three to four years,” said Thomas.

Europe is the world’s second-largest cricket market, with 34 member nations and no existing T20 league, offering ETPL a rare opportunity to monetise a supply-constrained ecosystem with strong grassroots participation, Banerjee said.