Major League Cricket continues to grow (AP Photo/LM Otero)
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Franchises in Major League Cricket are still in an “investment mode”, but confidence remains high over the direction of America’s well-heeled pro T20 league.
After a successful launch, where financial expectations were surpassed, MLC had the tough task of backing up just days following the T20 World Cup co-hosted by the U.S.
There was always going to be a wearing of the novelty factor, but the injection of marquee international players – highlighted by Australian superstar Pat Cummins – helped MLC roll on.
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There is a lot at stake with cricket making steps to finally shed its invisibility in the world’s biggest sports market. More than $100 million has been invested in the MLC by influential Indian businessmen, some of whom are ensconced in Silicon Valley.
The six-team tournament has been able to lure high-profile international cricketers through attractive salaries competitive with the top T20 leagues in the world outside of the money-spinning Indian Premier League.
The Texas Super Kings have a home ground in Dallas (AP Photo/LM Otero)
Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
But these savvy businessmen well know that start-ups take time to yield a profit. “We are still in an investment mode,” San Francisco Unicorns co-owner Anand Rajaraman told me. “I don’t think we are anywhere close to breaking even or anything like that.
“It’ll probably take us a few years to get there, but things seem to be progressing in the right direction. We’ve done quite well in terms of sponsorships and I’m hoping that continues to grow.”
Growing the tournament and tapping into a wider fan base might be tied with infrastructure of cricket grounds. MLC has primarily been played in Dallas, with its former baseball stadium in Grand Prairie becoming the hub of cricket in the U.S.
Texas is the only franchise with a home ground, with San Francisco, Washington DC, Los Angeles, Seattle and MI New York all still trying to find permanent facilities.
San Francisco had earmarked a site in Santa Clara, but are currently widening their search although the cricket ground will most likely be in Silicon Valley. There is urgency with venues still being sought for the cricket competitions at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.
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“It’s (turning a profit) probably going to be tied to when we can play games locally…have that permanent stadium,” Rajaraman said. “Once you have that then we can have other sources of revenue.
“We’re looking for support from local governments to help us because it’s not financially feasible for a team to foot the entire bill. For local governments to make this happen would be great and very exciting when it happens.”
Pat Cummins is a long-time signing for San Francisco Unicorns (Photo by Gareth Copley/Getty Images)
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It was a successful season for the Unicorns, who finished runners-up as their strategy to focus on analytics and data in an effort to build a Silicon Valley identity paid off. The franchise plans to use its partnership with Cricket Victoria to good use.
“We’ll be working on developing our domestic players and sending them for coaching and training in Australia,” Rajaraman said. “We used data and analytics quite significantly and we are keen to continue to push the envelope on that moving forward.”
