LONDON (AFP) – English cricket chiefs say a windfall of nearly £1 billion ($1.25 billion) from an auction of Hundred franchises is “a seminal moment” that will safeguard the game for future generations.

Global investors, including four groups with links to the cash-rich Indian Premier League, have sunk vast sums of money into the competition’s eight city-based teams.

England and Wales Cricket Board chief executive Richard Gould said at Lord’s on Thursday he wants to make the Hundred the “dominant competition” among its rivals.

The 100-balls-a-side format, which features men’s and women’s teams, was launched to great fanfare in 2021.

It has proved controversial, with many county cricket fans angry at the way the tournament deprives their clubs of key players at the height of the season.

But the ECB is confident that £520 million of new investment will eventually work its way into the game.

The auction process puts the combined value of the eight teams at more than £975 million — a strikingly high figure in the context of cash-strapped English domestic cricket.

There is now an exclusivity period, to finalise the deals.

A total of £50 million will be set aside for recreational cricket and the rest split between the 18 first-class counties and Marylebone Cricket Club, the owners of Lord’s.

Counties who do not have a Hundred team will receive a larger slice, while the hosts were gifted a 51 percent share in their teams.

“In the past few days, we’ve reached a seminal moment for cricket in England and Wales,” ECB chairman Richard Thompson said in an open letter published Thursday.

He added: “Our aim now is to ensure the necessary steps are taken to finalise this process, in order to unlock the transformative impact that these new partners will bring to the competition.

“This will also secure the funding that will go directly to the professional counties and recreational game, underpinning the fabric of our county game and helping future-proof cricket’s growth in England and Wales for generations to come.”

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The sale process concluded Wednesday with a deal for Southern Brave.

GMR Group, the owners of the Brave’s host county Hampshire and the co-owners of Indian Premier League franchise Delhi Capitals, have agreed to buy a 49 percent holding in the team.

Three other IPL outfits with Hundred stakes are Reliance (Mumbai Indians and Oval Invincibles), Sun Group (Sunrisers Hyderabad and Northern Superchargers) and RPSG (Lucknow Supergiants and Manchester Originals).

Some of these groups also have involvements in other franchise leagues such as South Africa’s SA20.

Gould told reporters the ECB, the game’s governing body in England and Wales, was now better placed to avoid a potential exodus of stars to other franchises such as the US-based Major League Cricket and the Caribbean Premier League.

“In order to protect our Test cricket and international cricket, we also need to make sure the Hundred window attracts the very best players in the world,” he said.

“We know that players’ salaries, in future years, will increase significantly in the Hundred. That is going to happen because we need to make sure we are the leaders in the global market during the English summer.”

Gould added: “What you are seeing is competition within windows and we want to make sure that we are the dominant competition and I think we’re well placed to do that.”