There are sixteen counties vying for eight women's teams

The only first-class counties not to submit a bid for the top tier of the revised structure are Derbyshire and Worcestershire.
A revised domestic tournament for England and Wales, which will begin the following season, has seen sixteen of the eighteen first-class counties submit bids for one of the eight professional women's teams.
The only two clubs that announced they did not bid for a Tier 1 squad under the new format among those asked to tender are Derbyshire and Worcestershire.

While Surrey, Lancashire, Sussex, Hampshire, Nottinghamshire, Warwickshire, and Gloucestershire all revealed this week that they have submitted tenders to the ECB, Essex and Glamorgan made official declarations on Wednesday.

On Monday, Middlesex announced that it had gained "the full support of Marylebone Cricket Club" in its application. MCC, who also received an invitation to bid for a team and owns Lord's, the home stadium of Middlesex, has not made a bid of their own.
Along with Durham, Yorkshire, Leicestershire, Somerset, and Northamptonshire, Kent also made their bids known last week.
It is anticipated that counties will be notified as soon as possible regarding interview times for the upcoming round of the process, which is scheduled to take place by the end of March.

In a shift from the present regional structure that took effect in 2020, the ECB requested all 18 first-class counties along with MCC to submit a tender for one of the Tier 1 clubs in February. Teams that compete in the 50-over Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy and the 20-over Charlotte Edwards Cup are currently governed by the ECB and typically represent multiple counties. The ECB is attempting to overcome an identity crisis that has befallen some of the regional teams by bringing ownership, responsibility, and governance closer to the clubs through team alignment with current counties and their men's teams.

All National Counties and first-class counties that were not granted Tier 1 status will be invited to participate in a procedure that will determine the composition of Tier 2 and Tier 3 tournaments, which will consist of 10–14 teams and 16–20 teams, respectively.
Derbyshire has chosen to take a longer-term approach, choosing to "pursue the establishment of a sustainable Tier 2 women's structure, one which will hopefully grow into Tier 1 status" in the future, even though there are no plans for promotion or relegation from 2025–2028. For the past seven seasons, Derbyshire has played host to at least one England Women's international match annually in addition to serving as the winter training ground for the Blaze, a regional women's side. .. During the first wave of the Covid-19 epidemic in 2020, Derby hosted all five Twenty20 Internationals (T20Is) between England Women and the West Indies.
Derbyshire chief executive Ryan Duckett explained the club's viewpoint as follows: "Derbyshire accounts for 9% of the Midlands' population, but a team from the county played in 26% of the region's women's cricket matches last year. We will keep supporting more success in this area. Additionally, three players in the current senior England squad came through the Derbyshire route, which has been led by the Derbyshire Cricket Foundation.

"Our goals for field expansion include adding more seating to accommodate demand and guarantee the club's continued prominence as a host site for international women's cricket, as well as improved training facilities supporting a strong pathway structure. We feel that this choice is in the best interest of the game because, after an honest assessment, we felt that, as a separate county, it may have been necessary to compromise what is now being given as a collective throughout the area in the short term."
Ashley Giles, the CEO of Worcestershire, stated in the club's podcast: "Right now, it would just be more of a funding and resource issue for us. It would be extremely difficult for us even with practice wickets, dressing rooms, and ground facilities.

However, Tier 2 and even Tier 3 will be the following steps after this, and we will definitely look into that. Additionally, we currently host the Central Sparks, a regional team, but we also have the Women's Rapids, and I'm eager to begin building that team in order to be prepared for the following levels, like Tier 2.
Each of the eight Tier 1 teams will receive at least £1.3 million annually from the ECB; a portion of this money will be set aside for talent paths, sports science and medicine, and player salaries. The counties are expected to explain their estimated investment as part of the tender process; no minimum financial commitment will be required of them.
The 2024 season will see the continuation of the current regions, which are the Blaze, Northern Diamonds, Southern Vipers, Central Sparks, Western Storm, Thunder, Sunrisers, and South East Stars.