This summer cricket will take another giant step in its attempts to break into the US sports market, as the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) stages six of its matches in Florida.
Cricket authorities, and in particular the current administration at the International Cricket Council (ICC), have long coveted the United States as the most vital of all emerging markets.
Administrative issues within the USA Cricket Association (USACA) have prevented real progress, but over the past five months, the ICC have renewed the push. As part of a strategic plan, targets include USA qualifying for the 2019 World Cup, the 2020 World Twenty20 and, most ambitiously, a proposal for the US to host the 2024 World Twenty20.
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That long road begins at the end of July, when the Central Broward Regional Park in Lauderhill, Florida, hosts six games – including two under floodlights – of the fourth season of the CPL.
"The US was always an exciting chapter for us because we're best positioned," the CPL's chief executive Damien O'Donohoe told The National. "The Caribbean is kind of an extension of the US.
“I think what we’re trying to do is be the first professional league to play there, to show there is a market, to show that we can help develop cricket and really build the brand of T20 in a very big sports market.”
It is actually the second big step the game has taken in the US in the past year. Last November Shane Warne and Sachin Tendulkar organised a series of Cricket All-Stars veteran matches in New York, Houston and Los Angeles.
Those games, in which the cream of cricket’s former legends took part, was played at baseball grounds, with mixed results as far as attendances went. The Lauderhill ground is a cricket stadium with a capacity of 10,000. Organisers are keen that games are played in front of sold-out crowds.
“If we’re totally honest, our preference would be to play games in New York,” O’Donohoe said. “But we’re investing a huge amount of money into playing the games in Florida and I think the cost of it would be twice to go to New York City. We can’t play in the baseball stadiums like the All-Stars games did.”
One of the things O’Donohoe hopes to learn from the All-Stars games is to price tickets lower; last November, for example, tickets were available from US$50 (Dh183) to upwards of $300 (Dh1,101) in Los Angeles.
According to ESPNcricinfo, the CPL has priced two-thirds of its tickets to less than $30. “As we’ve always said, we want to make our games accessible to everybody,” O’Donohoe said.
“That is what we’ve done in the US. That’s one thing that has always been important to us that we won’t rule anyone out from coming to our games and really sharing in what is a unique, special experience. Twenty20 which is, in my view, the most exciting game on the planet, and with that Caribbean colour and flavour.”
As well as the matches, the CPL has been working in collaboration with the ICC and will be running a number of grass-roots initiatives alongside the matches.
"We will be doing umpire seminars, coaching seminars, where we will bring in our guys to help or advise some of their coaches and umpires," the CPL chief operating officer Peter Russell told The National.
“There will be player visits to schools and local clubs. In terms of grass roots, definitely there will be greater collaboration. In terms of the professional game, without a doubt, for Tim Anderson [the ICC’s head of development] and his team, it’s always been about testing the waters and seeing whether a product like ours has the legs to stand in America, to develop it themselves.
“We’re under no illusions that everyone will be looking at us at the end of July to make sure these games are a success.”
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