Cricket may not be as popular in the United States as it is elsewhere in the world, but some prominent CEOs and investors are trying to change that.
As the men's T20 Cricket World Cup, co-hosted by the United States for the first time, gathers momentum, investors have poured nearly $1 billion into their American ambition.
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella and Adobe CEO Shantanu Narain is among the executives investing in America's new professional league, Major League Cricket. Other investors in Cricket include Iconic Ventures, Madrona Venture Group and executives from Google.
“What excites me is to see if cricket can become a major sport in the United States,” said Soma Somasegar, venture capitalist and managing director at Madrona.
Somasegar and Nadella are among the principal owners of Seattle's cricket team, called the Orcas. They are also investors in the General League.
“Satya (Nadella) and I have talked about bringing cricket to America for many years,” Somasegar told CNBC.
Nadella is a huge cricket fan, so much so that Microsoft has a cricket field on its campus in Bellevue, Washington.
Monank Patel of the US national cricket team celebrates his half-century (50 runs) during the ICC Men's T20 Cricket World Cup match between the United States and Pakistan at Grand Prairie Cricket Ground in Dallas, June 6, 2024.
Matt Roberts | International Criminal Court Getty Images
“A lot of us immigrants grew up with the sport. We would study and watch cricket. We would repeat that,” Somasegar said.
In total, about $850 million is currently being invested in building a viable cricket league in the United States, people familiar with the financing said. The people asked to remain anonymous because funding information is private.
Currently, there are six professional teams in Major League Cricket, and each team is expected to spend approximately $75 million to $100 million in the coming years. This includes the cost of forming the team, recruiting the right talent and building stadiums where live cricket matches can be played.
Adding to the hype is the T20 World Cup, which is being held at three sites in the United States and several in the West Indies throughout June.
On Thursday, in a stunning blow, the US team beat Pakistan in a match near Dallas. Fans are now counting down to the highly anticipated match between India and Pakistan on Sunday at the newly developed Nassau County Stadium in New York.
The last time a match was held between India and Pakistan, more than 300 million people in India tuned in, according to the New York Times.
Ticket distributor StubHub said the average price of tickets for Sunday's rivalry game is $1,300. The average price for the other 54 matches in the tournament is $120, the company said.
Venture capitalist Anurag Jain, a part-owner of the San Francisco Unicorns cricket team, said the US national team is made up primarily of major league players.
“The aim is to make cricket a mainstream sport,” said Satyan Jagwani, vice president of Times Internet, the digital arm of the Times of India. He heads Willow TV, which has exclusive broadcast rights to North American cricket, including the T20 World Cup.
Jagwani is also an investor in the MLS. He said his group is seeking incredibly loyal South Asian fans who live in the United States
“You basically have 5 million die-hard fans who love cricket,” Gagwani told CNBC, referring to the South Asian diaspora in the United States.
Expatriates from the UK and Australia living in the US are also big consumers of cricket, he added.
South Asians on average have the highest total income of any ethnic group in the United States, according to research by Indiaspora, a nonprofit community of Indian leaders around the world.
“This leaves a lot of discretionary income available to spend on sports and entertainment,” said MR Rangaswamy, founder and chairman of Indiaspora.
Rangaswamy, who said he would attend the game on Sunday, acknowledged that the American sports scene is difficult to penetrate, with Americans consuming basketball and football. A potential entry point could be through fans of baseball, which is somewhat similar to cricket, he said.
— CNBC's Jessica Golden contributed to this report.
