 "Lalit Modi had founded the Indian Premier League in 2008 and served as chairman for the first three seasons. AFP")
Cricket, like football, Formula 1 and several other sports, has been eyeing a slice of the American market for quite some time now, and has made ambitious moves in recent years. The United States, after all, has a T20 league of its own – Major League Cricket (MLC) – with leading Indian Premier League franchises such as Mumbai Indians, Chennai Super Kings and Kolkata Knight Riders owning teams in the league.
The International Cricket Council (ICC) had also taken its biggest step towards fulfilling their ‘American dream’ last year by hosting a sizeable chunk of fixtures in the T20 World Cup in the cities of New York, Houston and Lauderhill near Miami. That included the marquee showdown between India and Pakistan at a purpose-built stadium at the ‘Big Apple’.
Cricket is set to make another high-profile appearance on American soil in three years’ time, with the sport returning the Olympic fold after more than a century at the 2028 Los Angeles Games.
IPL founder explains why cricket in USA won’t work
Lalit Modi, the brains behind the IPL – the world’s biggest T20 league that has helped transform India into a cricketing superpower – isn’t exactly a fan of the sport’s attempt to gain a foothold in the ‘Land of Opportunity’.
And to explain his point, Modi revealed a conversation he had with West Indian legend Chris Gayle, who had recently attended the third season of MLC , which he claimed gave a fair idea of where cricket currently stands in the American sporting landscape.
“You look Major League Cricket (MLC). It just finished. I called up my friend Chris Gayle. ‘Chris, I see you in Texas. What’s the atmosphere like?’ He said, ‘my brother it’s dead’. There’s nobody in the stadium. There was nobody in the stadium. They think that the cricket going to the Olympics is going to fuel America. It ain’t happening now, this decade, next decade, next 50 years,” the 61-year-old said in a chat with former Australia captain Michael Clarke on the Beyond23 Cricket podcast.
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More ShortsModi, who had helped create the IPL in 2008 and served as chairman for the first three seasons until he was booted out by the BCCI, added that cricket leagues would further struggle to fill seats at venues in the absence of big names.
“I am a businessman expat sitting anywhere in the world in America, San Francisco, Los Angeles. Am I going to see somebody called Virat Singh playing against Dushyant Singh. Against Lalit Singh. I’ve never heard of them. All that I want is to watch and spend my money to watch Virat Kohli. Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Michael Clarke, Brett Lee,” Modi continued.
“Now, India Pakistan played in New York. We filled the stadium. Did anybody fill any other stadium in the world cup that just happened in America? No. Does anybody watch Ranji Trophy in India? No. Does anybody watch local leagues anywhere? No. Now people watch star players. If there are no stars, no Indian stars, why will the Indian expatriate population or the Commonwealth population watch major league cricket?” he added.
‘Does anybody even watch football in the US’
Modi also cited the example of how a truly global sport like football, known as soccer in the US, hasn’t been able to displace the ‘Big Four’ of American sports – the National Football League (NFL), the National Basketball Association (NBA), Major League Baseball (MLB) and the National Hockey League (NHL).
The US, after all, had hosted the 32-team FIFA Club World Cup last month and will also be co-hosting the 48-team FIFA World Cup with Canada and Mexico next year. There were a handful of issues that plagued the former , including steep ticket prices and match timings as well as poor pitches and extreme heat, which led to low turnouts in several games.
FIFA ended up selling tickets which were priced as high as $400 at $13, that too for a semi-final, just to ensure there were enough people in the stands.
“Does anybody watch basketball in the UK, in Europe, in Africa, in India? No. The NBA. Does anybody watch the NFL in any other country? No, it’s the USA. Does anybody watch baseball in any other country? No. Does anybody even watch football in the US, which is a global sport?
“They’ve taken Messi after so many years… I was a major investor in major league soccer when I owned ESPN in 1995-96. I lost so much money it didn’t work. It’s not going to work even now. The Club World Championship finished last weekend where Trump presented the trophy. Did you see what came out today? They priced the tickets at $400! They couldn’t sell them for $13,” Modi added.