ECL 2020: Weston opens up tournament ownership

Founder of the European Cricket League Daniel Weston is handing an opportunity to fans and investors to own a share in his competition for 2020 and beyond.

Launching a “pre-IPO” share offering this week, Weston and the ECL team intend to build on the success of the inaugural tournament held this year, picking up scores of investors for the ride to build the game on the continent.

Dozens have snatched at the opportunity of owning a slice of the ECL already, inside the first week of the offer being public.

Weston has made his intentions clear for the ECL, doubling down on his own commitment through an injection of money out of his own pocket to the project. A total of 10,000 shares will be available to the public at €50 each, with Weston acquiring 50,000 shares as the majority investor.

“After our highly successful and positively acclaimed ECL19 tournament, there has been an enormous level of interest in the ECL project,” Weston outlines in the investor presentation.

“Accordingly, I have decided to provide an opportunity for friends, family, the
broader European cricket community and global ECL fans to buy and own a share of the ECL in partnership with me.”

Re-live VOC Rotterdam’s ECL 2019 victory here.

2020’s tournament expands from an eight-team, three-day festival, to a sixteen-team competition across eight days. With his outline of potentially astronomic growth in the region, Weston’s plan is to deliver on both short-term objectives – like beaming the competition to households in over 130 countries – but with an over-arching goal of creating shifting, cultural change in sport for future generations.

Aiming to compliment football with a bat-and-ball sport for the vacant summer period, the plan down the line is for aspiring players to travel on a well-worn path to continental glory, in the mould of the tournament’s football equivalent, the UEFA Champions League. Weston believes meshing the millions of Europe’s cricket fans through fanfare and collective ownership will bear fruit down the line.

“If we want cricket to be a global game like football, then we have to plant the seeds today, so that they are strong trees in 25 years.

“Imagine having the chance to invest in the UEFA Champions League back at its inception. This could be seen as a similar opportunity. Just think of the long-term potential.”

The comparison is not a long bow to draw considering the individuals Weston has in the wings. Board Member Thomas Klooz and President Frank Leenders both bring a wealth of experience from football’s premier club competition, with CEO Roger Feiner a former Director of Broadcasting at FIFA.

Exploiting an almost completely-vacant period in the summer, the 90-minute T10 form of the sport sits poised to potentially capitalise on the an as-yet untapped European cricket market.

Previously, Weston was a global macro hedge fund manager, a profession that requires a broad but detailed knowledge of macroeconomic trends and forecasts, which then drive investment decisions based on predictions and projections of large-scale events on country-wide, continental, and global scales.

Highlighting the boom of German club cricket and other examples across the continent, migration trends and the awareness of the game’s existence through streaming and marketing, Weston appears to has clearly identified that the pieces of the puzzle are there waiting to be put together.

“If we don’t do anything now, then the future of European cricket becoming professional could be 100 years away. If we do something meaningful now, then the future of European cricket becoming professional is near at hand,” Weston concluded.

Next year’s tournament begins on the 31st of May, with Spain’s La Manga Club in Murcia, Spain, once again hosting the tournament.

The minimum outlay for investors to join Weston on his quest has been set at 10 shares (€500) per investor.

Potential investors can visit www.ecl-investment-partners.com for more information.

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Daniel Weston is an Emerging Cricket Patron who also supports us by volunteering EC exposure on digital signage at the European Cricket League.