Cricket might not be as popular a sport within the U.S. as elsewhere on the planet, but some high-profile CEOs and investors are attempting to alter that.
Because the Men’s T20 Cricket World Cup, co-hosted by the U.S. for the primary time, ramps up, investors have pumped nearly a billion dollars into their American ambition.
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella and Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen are among the many executives investing in the brand new U.S. skilled league, Major League Cricket. Other cricket investors include Iconic Ventures, Madrona Enterprise Group and executives from Google.
“What gets me excited is seeing if cricket can grow to be a mainstream sport within the U.S.,” said Soma Somasegar, enterprise capitalist and managing director at Madrona.
Somasegar and Nadella are amongst the important thing owners of Seattle’s cricket team, named the Orcas. They’re also investors in the general league.
“Satya [Nadella] and I actually have been talking about bringing cricket to America for a few years,” Somasegar told CNBC.
Nadella is such a die-hard cricket fan that Microsoft has a cricket field at its campus in Bellevue, Washington.
Monank Patel of the U.S. national cricket team celebrates his half century (50 runs) throughout the ICC Men’s T20 Cricket World Cup match between the U.S. and Pakistan at Grand Prairie Cricket Stadium in Dallas on June 6, 2024.
Matt Roberts | ICC | Getty Images
“A variety of us immigrants grew up with this sport. We might study and watch cricket — on repeat,” said Somasegar.
In total, nearly $850 million is currently within the means of being invested in constructing a viable cricket league within the U.S., people accustomed to the funding said. The people asked to not be named since the funding information is private.
Currently, there are six skilled teams in Major League Cricket, with each team expected to spend between roughly $75 million and $100 million over the approaching years. That features the fee of putting together a team, hiring the suitable talent and constructing stadiums where live cricket matches may be played.
Adding to the fanfare is the T20 World Cup, which is being held at three locations within the U.S. and several other within the West Indies throughout June.
On Thursday, in a shocking blow, the U.S. team beat Pakistan in a match held near Dallas. Fans at the moment are counting right down to the highly anticipated India vs. Pakistan match Sunday on the newly developed Nassau County stadium in Latest York.
The last time India and Pakistan matched up, greater than 300 million people in India tuned in to look at the sport, in line with The Latest York Times.
Ticket reseller StubHub said the typical price of tickets for Sunday’s rivalry match is $1,300. The typical price for the opposite 54 matches of the tournament is $120, the corporate said.
Enterprise capitalist Anurag Jain, part owner of Major League Cricket team the San Francisco Unicorns, said the U.S. national team is primarily made up of players within the league.
“The goal is to make cricket a mainstream sport,” said Satyan Gajwani, the vice chairman of Times Web, the digital arm of the Times of India. He heads up Willow TV, which has the exclusive streaming rights for cricket in North America, including the T20 World Cup.
Gajwani can also be considered one of the investors within the U.S. league. He said his group goes after the incredibly loyal fans from South Asia who live within the U.S.
“You essentially have five million really hard-core fans that love cricket,” Gajwani told CNBC, referring to the South Asian diaspora within the U.S.
He added that expats from the U.K. and Australia who live within the U.S. are also big consumers of cricket.
South Asians on average have the best gross income of any ethnic group within the U.S., in line with research from Indiaspora, a nonprofit community of Indian leaders all over the world.
“That leaves a number of discretionary income that is offered to be spent on sports and entertainment,” said M.R. Rangaswami, founder and chairman of Indiaspora.
Rangaswami, who said he can be on the match Sunday, acknowledged that the U.S. sports scene is hard to crack, with Americans consumed by basketball and football. He said a possible entry point could possibly be through fans of baseball, which has some resemblance to cricket.
— CNBC’s Jessica Golden contributed to this report.
