After 5 years of constructing new franchises, Northern Superchargers turned Sunrisers Leeds, probably the most dominant males’s facet switched from Oval Invincibles to MI London and Manchester Originals turned the Tremendous Giants.
Welsh Fireplace, Birmingham Phoenix, London Spirit and Trent Rockets stored their names and their kits fairly related, whereas Southern Courageous traded their inexperienced and black for navy and pink.
General when it comes to attendances this 12 months, it was a sluggish begin earlier than a gradual restoration.
And the various degree of change at every staff was mirrored within the numbers on the eight completely different venues.
Numbers at Headingley and Outdated Trafford – the place their groups have been fully rebranded – have dropped, whereas Southampton’s Utilita Bowl – residence of Southern Courageous – bounced again from a sluggish begin.
Their first males’s recreation drew a crowd of 8,452 in comparison with 12,549 for the equal fixture in 2025, though the caveat for this 12 months’s match might be that it was on the final day of the college time period.
Cardiff’s Sophia Gardens, the smallest of the host grounds, loved document crowds for each its males’s and ladies’s Fireplace groups, drawing 11,796 followers for his or her fixture towards MI London.
Timings play their half when taking a look at particular person video games, too – for instance, Cardiff had two midweek 11:30 BST begins for his or her ladies’s staff, whereas their document crowd got here on a Saturday night time.
The 2 London groups have been predictably on the prime of the desk, together with the derby fixture between Spirit and MI London drawing a crowd of 27,721 – a document for any group stage match within the match’s historical past.
However and not using a London staff in both the lads’s or ladies’s Eliminator, The Oval was not near sellout on Friday, with 10,271 in for the ladies’s and 20,124 for the lads’s.
Match director Vikram Banerjee informed BBC Sport he thinks 2026 has been a “higher version” than final 12 months and “top-of-the-line” in The Hundred’s historical past.
“The standard now’s second solely to the IPL, by a transparent distance in each the lads’s and ladies’s video games,” mentioned Banerjee.
“Our broadcast numbers are wanting good, our on-line audiences are producing nice numbers, and we’re rising. We’re doing nice stuff, so I believe it has been our greatest 12 months.”
Banerjee added the gang figures are simply “one measure” and as a substitute pointed to constructing “fandom” and “engagement” numbers, the place the match was probably the most seen season throughout The Hundred’s personal social media channels.
