It’s famed for extremely pricey membership fees… and a long waiting list to match.
Now new members of Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) – the institution which owns the world famous Lord’s ground – could find themselves paying £100,000 to join.
Plans are under way to turn the 238-year-old club into a public limited company, in one of the most significant changes in its history.
Under the proposals, which will be raised at the club’s AGM on Wednesday, the existing 18,500 members would become shareholders of ‘Lord’s plc’, with each share estimated to be worth between £50,000 and £100,000.
Shares put up for sale would be offered to associate members and those on the waiting list, or could be left to a relative in a will. If nobody took up the offer, the share would then be made available to members of the public, according to the Sunday Times.
All members would also be given a designated seat at the ground in north London – dubbed the home of English cricket – for the first time, a privilege currently reserved for those aged over 75 having had a membership for at least 30 years.
But any decision would require the overwhelming majority of its members to agree in order to bring about the changes.
Robert Griffiths KC, a former chairman of MCC’s laws and development committees and an adviser for the group proposing the new scheme, said: ‘MCC’s official and constant refrain to its members has been that this is their club and their subscription gives them all the rights and privileges of ownership of the most prestigious cricket ground in the world. That is just marketing hype. It is a chimera, a fiction.
Plans are under way to turn the 238-year-old Marylebone Cricket Club – which owns Lord’s Cricket Grounds – into a public limited company
Broadcaster Stephen Fry, President of Marylebone Cricket Club, speaks on Red for Ruth Day, before the start of day two of the second Ashes Test cricket match in 2023
‘As presently constituted, members have no proprietary or contractual rights in either the club or the ground. These ingenious proposals would change all that.’
Next year the historic stadium will host its maiden women’s test match, exactly 50 years since an England women’s team first played on the ground.
Members typically have to spend around 30 years on a waiting list before being able to join, paying an annual subscription of up to £700 depending on their age and where they live.
Existing members include former Conservative prime ministers Sir John Major, David Cameron and Theresa May, as well as broadcaster Sir Stephen Fry and Rolling Stones frontman Sir Mick Jagger.
