Changing team names, player signings and... an elephant? It's been all go in The Hundred lately as the franchises reveal fresh branding and a raft of signings prior to an inaugural auction in March. 2026 is a landmark year for the competition with overseas investment coming into the league for the first time.

Team identities had been created centrally at the inception of the tournament, but now new owners are making changes. We'll take you through all the changes as The Hundred gears up for its biggest season yet before debating what may come next.

Three sides - Manchester Originals, Oval Invincibles and Northern Superchargers - have gone through the most significant change, unveiling new names for 2026. They become Manchester Super Giants, MI London and Sunrisers Leeds respectively, with their fresh identities aligning with the names of the Indian Premier League (IPL) sides owned by their new management.

Southern Brave, who are controlled by the owners of IPL side Delhi Capitals, have chosen not to change their name. All four sides are expected to change their colours to mirror those of their new franchise cricket families, while each have revealed refreshed badges. Most dramatically, Manchester Super Giants' new logo features the head of an elephant, not an animal typically associated with a city in north-west England.

The animal, which does not feature on the badges of Indian and South African sides owned by the same group, has become a big talking point on social media over the past week. The four remaining sides, who received investment from groups based in the United States, are in the process of revealing their new branding.

The Hundred is launching a player auction and significantly increasing salaries for the 2026 season. However franchises are permitted to sign four players for each of their sides prior to the event, set to be held in March, with a number of major names announced already.

England stars Jos Buttler (Manchester Super Giants), Jacob Bethell (Birmingham Phoenix), Harry Brook (Sunrisers Leeds) and Jofra Archer (Southern Brave) are among the players in the men's competition who have been retained by previous sides.

The same goes for the women's tournament with Sophie Ecclestone (Super Giants), Lauren Bell (Brave), Kate Cross (Sunrisers) and Nat Sciver-Brunt (Trent Rockets) all sticking with their 2025 outfits.

However some major names are on the move, with Rehan Ahmed, Liam Livingstone, Ben Duckett, Jamie Smith and Phil Salt all swapping sides in the men's competition and Alice Capsey, Danni Wyatt-Hodge, Sophia Dunkey and Freya Kemp doing likewise in the women's.

Squads in The Hundred were previously formed via a draft with a set of salary tiers, but any players not signed before the auction will now have their team and pay set by the auction. The salary pot in the men's competition has risen by 45% to £2.05m per side, and the fund for women's teams has increased by 100% to £880,000.

The cost of pre-auction signings will be taken away from the money franchises have to spend at the event. Auctions are a feature of a number of T20 franchise leagues, with the Indian Premier League holding one since its inception in 2008.

The date of the auction will be announced on Monday, 26 January with the season's fixtures released the following day. It's a merry-go-round of head coaches next season, with multiple leaders leaving one side and joining another.

Only two coaches have been retained thus far, Ali Maiden at Birmingham Phoenix Women and Mike Hussey at Welsh Fire Men, while Southern Brave are yet to confirm their team for 2026. Justin Langer, Daniel Vettori and Andy Flower have all left one men's side and joined another, Michael Klinger and Lisa Keightley have done the same in the women's competition, while Adrian Birrell has switched from Southern Brave men to Sunrisers Leeds women.

Langer and Vettori's moves see them link up with ownership groups who control the IPL sides they coach, Lucknow Super Giants and Sunrisers Hyderabad respectively.

Keightley, the coach of Mumbai Indians in the Women’s Premier League, joins up with their sister organisation in London and Royal Challengers Bengaluru coach Flower will work with Mo Bobat, director of cricket at both London Spirit and RCB.

Former England and Australia coach Keightley remains the only woman in a head coach position, while the number of English coaches employed has dropped from five to four.

Name changes and player auctions may just be the start of the changes for The Hundred. London Spirit's new ownership group have told BBC sports editor Dan Roan that they will consider the possibility of selling streaming rights when the next broadcast window opens in 2028. The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) are in a broadcast partnership with Sky Sports, who have the rights to show all live matches in the tournament until 2028.

But Nikesh Arora, who heads the Silicon Valley–backed consortium of tech billionaires holding a 49% stake in the franchise, told BBC Sport they expect the rights landscape to be very different when the current deal with Sky expires. "When the opportunity comes up in 2028, they'll [team owners] be looking at the evolution of the fanbase, viewership and interest," Arora said.

"Last year was the highest year in terms of viewership for The Hundred. That's a good sign and hopefully, we can maintain that momentum. There's a lot of enthusiasm and excitement across the league which brings in more viewership. We'll all be in a stronger place in 2028 and then we'll have to see who the contenders are. If that means streaming platforms, a little competition never hurt anyone."