FROM STEVE BRENNER
Whenever the small matter of cricket in the United States rears its head, the same old questions are asked.
From the unlikely scenario of American kids swapping their NFL football for a cricket bat to quizzical looks when talking about the financial viability of the game in North America, skeptical eyebrows are always raised.
Granted, there have been enough false dawns over the years to deflate even the most fervent of Stateside cricket followers – yes, they do exist – yet with the advent of Major League Cricket (MLC) in 2023, this time just feels different.
So different, in fact, that the Guardian understands MLC is set to receive further investment of $120 million put together by a wide range of investors, while the Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), one of the most successful and valuable Indian Premier League (IPL) franchises, are also plowing their money and reputation into the newest Twenty20 competition by taking control of a team in Los Angeles.
Why?
Well, KKR CEO Venky Mysore is adamant now is the time to invest in North American cricket. The astute businessman, who spent a large portion of his professional career in the United States, has seen a similar investment in the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) pay excellent dividends.
An estimated 150 million have been tuning in to see the likes of star performers Andre Russell roll out for the Trinidad Knight Riders, a sure sign, according to Mysore, that a foray into the already heavily saturated US sporting market would be worth it, from an Indian perspective alone.
The Cape Town Knight Riders in South Africa failed to start after the League never got off the ground although the Abu Dhabi team will enter under the KKR banner in a new tournament in the United Arab Emirates .
A sudden sporting transformation won’t happen overnight- ‘10 to 15 years’ said Mysore – but for the first time in living memory, cricket here has a plan and the IPL powerhouse of KKR want in.
“My philosophy of how to build a franchise is based on two pillars,“ he says over Zoom from India .
“One is your brand, and the other one is your fan base. And so if you have a two month slot for a competition, how do you keep your brand alive all year round?
“My vision when I took over KKR, was that we could acquire assets around the world, which are very similar, and we build expertise in building a franchise, and making it successful and building a model there.
“But the next challenge was how can we take that model and replicate it around the world under the mother brand of Nightriders? That’s what we have done in the CPL and we will do in the United States.
“On my wish list is to have a common group of sponsors who will participate with us wherever we play as Knight Riders so that’s where MLC fits into the whole scheme of things.”
It’s the kind of joined up thinking which is serving Manchester City, the Premier League soccer team who have affiliate teams all over the globe, very well indeed.
Few IPL franchises have been able to follow suit and it remains unclear if others will take a chance with MLC, who have a number of American based sports investors to help with transition.
“There is a commonality in terms of how we built our model, our colors and our logo and the brand of cricket we play, ” he said.
“Fans in India are able to relate to our other teams.”
But will the investors manage to claw something back? What’s the endgame?
On paper, the signs for MLC are encouraging. Cricket specific stadiums are being built – the most recent one in Orange County, California joins potential other west coast venues in Seattle and Silicon Valley while Colorado and Ohio are in discussions about building training facilities within the state.
The $120 million investment into MLC, who are set to start with six franchises, will primarily be dedicated to building premier cricket-specific stadia and training centers to help develop a new generation.
Interest is being piqued at just the right time after years of missteps and false dawns and a focus on trying to produce American born players is already in action.
With the United States named as a co-host with the Caribbean for the 2024 T20 World Cup, timing really is of the essence. Success, of course, isn’t guaranteed and neither is a return on some vast investment across the board unless, like KKR, you are able to think – and broadcast – outside of the box.
“It’s the NFL model, where you own part of the league,” countered Moray. “So there’s a lot of other revenue that will flow through.
“I make more money from the CPL in Trinidad from licensing and merchandise than most IPL teams make in India.”
With cricket potentially making its Olympic debut in Los Angeles in 2028, you don’t have to be a genius to see where all of this is heading.
Of course, huge swathes of expat Indians, Pakistani’s Bangladeshi’s English, Australian and South Africans need no introduction to the grand old game which is no1 in the sub continent while retaining a rich history elsewhere.
But, the million dollar question is : Will kids from the middle of America, however, even know all this is happening while the NFL juggernaut keeps on rolling?
“I think the short answer is no,” said Michael Maraine PhD, who teaches sports management at Brock University in Ontario.
“I mean, the easy answer is cricket is going to stay in the urban centers for a while. And when you talk to MLC, and you talk to other stakeholders in the US, this idea that we were going to proliferate these properties in major urban centers where there’s lots of expats – Philadelphia, New York, Miami, San Francisco – makes sense in the grand scheme of things.
“I think there’s opportunity, but we can’t be too facetious or naive about the situation that magically some kid in Missouri is going to pick this up. It’s a long term play possibly culminating in the Olympics in 2032.
“If kids are seeing Team USA spring a shock on NBC, they could start thinking about being a cricketer. “
Maraine said you only have to look at the success of Austin Matthews in the NHL, a player from a non-ice hockey city like Phoenix making a huge career for himself in the sport.
“Phoenix only started their franchise in 1996 so 20 years on and they have their own MVP’s being produced,” he added. “That’s how long it’s going to take for this thing to happen.”
At least USA cricket finally has their own house in order after years of financial mismanagement and by working in tandem with MLC, have developed a strong axis to build for the future.
A Twenty20 win for the United States team at the backend of last year over Ireland was seen as a watershed moment for the game here – their first triumph over a major cricket playing nation no-less watched by some fans who traveled all the way from Las Vegas to Fort Lauderdale to witness history in the making – and was the kind of moment which justified English World Cup winning bowler Liam Plunkett’s decision to head across the Atlantic and take up a player/coach role in Philadelphia.
The 34 year-old, whose wife is from the area, is slated to play for the Philadelphia franchise yet crucially USA cricket will also use the vastly experienced former Durham player to help work with the potential stars of tomorrow.
“I feel like it’s a startup company and I want to help build cricket over here,” said Plunkett, one of 30 pro-players signed up by MLC, who said English players are ‘chomping at the bit’ to try and get a piece of the action in the United States.
“I was in Houston a few weeks back with the major league guys, and there’s a lot of talent.
“With everything on the horizon, this definitely feels like a professional set-up now.”
“The US is the number one media market in the world. And you’re taking the number two most watched sport in the world,” concluded Mysore.
“There’s enough people in the diaspora who are hungry to consume cricket content, that’s for sure. I’ve always maintained, though, that for us to be able to scale the product in the US, you have to get the average American sports fan interested in T20 cricket.
“There’s no doubt it will be difficult to do – but there are ways to go about it.”
ends