Half of the overseas players in the men's Hundred could be in the UK late this year after Major League Cricket (MLC) confirmed on Tuesday that the two leagues will have a six-day overlap in July.
Last year, the inaugural season of the MLC ended two days before the start of the Hundred, but this year the leagues will clash. The group stage of the Hundred begins on 23 July, while the MLC runs until the final on 28 July, with the knockout rounds - involving four of the six franchises - starting on 24 July.
Twelve of the 24 overseas players in the men's Hundred have already been announced as signings or retainers for the MLC and more could follow before the tournament starts on July 5. The vast majority of them will remain in the USA until their respective franchises are eliminated.
Stephen Fleming is likely to buck the trend by prioritising the hundred. Fleming, who is in India with Chennai Super Kings, coaches Texas Super Kings in the MLC but his Hundred team, Southern Brave, have received assurances that he will arrive in the UK ahead of their opening match on 24 July. Fleming did not respond to requests for comment.
Depending on which MLC franchises reach the play-offs, some Hundred teams could be without two or even three overseas players for their opening matches. Fleming's Brave, for example, could be without Kieron Pollard (MI New York), Akeal Hosein (Washington Freedom) and Finn Allen (San Francisco Unicorns) for their opening game.
Player salaries in the MLC were higher than in the Men's Hundred last year. The top salary in the MLC was around US$175,000 (approximately £135,000) for a minimum of five games over two and a half weeks, while in the Men's Hundred the top salary was £125,000 (approximately US$155,000) for a minimum of eight games over four weeks.
The men's hundred is likely to be short of star power in the opening week, which also clashes with the third England v West Indies Test at Edgbaston from July 26-30. Availability is much better in the Women's Hundred, where the only relevant clash is a brief overlap with the Asia Cup.
The MLC starts on July 5 - a day later than originally scheduled - and the 21-match group stage runs until July 23. Each team will play seven group games. The four knockout matches are scheduled for July 24(Eliminator), July 25 (Qualifier), July. 26 (Challenger) and July 28 (Final). As well as the Hundred, the tournament will clash directly with the Lanka Premier League, which runs from July 1-21.
Two venues will be used, as was the case last year: Grand Prairie Stadium near Dallas, Texas, and Church Street Park in Morrisville, North Carolina. The ICC said earlier this year that MLC was exploring the possibility of using the 'modular' stadium at Eisenhower Park near New York - which will host eight T20 World Cup matches in June - but those plans have been shelved.
The MLC has proved particularly attractive to Australian players this year, with Steven Smith, Travis Head, Glenn Maxwell and Jake Fraser-McGurk all set to play. Two MLC franchises have links with Australian states - Washington Freedom (New South Wales) and San Francisco Unicorns (Victoria) - while a Seattle Orcas team recently toured Queensland.
The desire to attract the world's best overseas players is one of several reasons behind the ECB's plan to sell shares in Hundred teams to private investors later this year. Richard Gould, the ECB's chief executive, said last month that there was a "strong consensus that we would like to see private investment in the Hundred".
The ECB have been meeting with the counties on a regular basis and are hoping to agree a way forward this week. Under their latest proposals, they would give a 51% stake in each hundred team to the host county (or MCC in the case of London Spirit) and sell the other 49% themselves by the end of the year, sharing the revenue generated across the English game.