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Twenty20 cricket will carve a boutique position in the massive American sporting market within the time it took the Swans to etch a niche in Sydney.
It sounds a distant comparison. But there are many hints an observer can take when assessing the potential of the newest form of cricket to break into the seemingly impregnable and parochial United States.
In the early-1980s Australian Football officials were an arrogant lot. They felt that their game was, simply, better than any other. They plonked a team in Brisbane without much thought believing the merits of the code would surpass any obstacles that might exist to it becoming popular. That team scraped the bottom of the barrel for years.
It was no different when those officials decided that Sydney would be the next frontier to conquer. They transplanted struggling South Melbourne to Sydney and again felt that there was little groundwork needed. What followed has become a sad blip on the AFL’s illustrious history. The Swans took 25 years to finally balance their accounts.
These days, finally, they can be pretty much assured of pulling at least 30,000 to each game. Not a regular procession of sellouts but 30,000 bums on seats in a rugby league-mad town is not bad.
The point, however, has not been lost on the new generation of AFL bosses, who concede that no matter how good they believe their code may be, there is nothing straight forward about breaking into another culture and pinching a piece of the pie. Today there is a small army of AFL employees charged with setting up the new western Sydney club, set to debut in 2011 or 2012. There are publicists, advertising and communications consultants, community relations experts … you name it. The same thing has to happen if cricket is to take off in the United States.
The leaders of world cricket, the International Cricket Council, are a dopey bunch. But it won’t be the ICC that brings cricket to the US. It will be the revolutionary and somewhat fearless leaders of Indian cricket that make the leap. They will not make the same mistake that the AFL officials of the 1980s did and rely on the quality of the product to do the work for them. Instead, they will pump tens of millions of dollars into advertising and promotions to raise awareness of the game. They will adapt the game further to the tastes of Americans. They will be sensitive to the cultural needs and wants of the corporates and fans they know they must woo.
These trailblazers won’t expect to take over baseball, football or basketball in the US, in the same way that the AFL bosses expected to wipe rugby league and union off the Sydney map. They will realise that a tiny percentage of the US market is worth a lot of money. They will set their sights realistically at first and hope to position the sport in a way that creates a snowball effect, gradually increasing the profile and popularity of the game.
The advantage that cricket leaders have over the AFL leaders of the 1980s is that they are not coming up against a population that is suspicious of their sport. Sydney’s and Melbourne’s age-old rivalry meant that most Sydney-siders grew up repeatedly told that league was a better game than AFL. It has taken a generation or two to even make a dent in that widely held belief. Americans have a curiosity about cricket, not an innate antagonism.
Twenty20’s style further adds to the belief that project America could be a real goer. It’s fast – the same amount of time as a baseball game – and has a feel not too dissimilar to the game known as America’s national pastime. There’s a batter, a bowler and fielders. There are innings, similar tactics and the fans enjoy a similar experience. A hotdog and Bud at the ol’ ball game is not all that different to a meat pie and a VB at the cricket. Many readers of this article would concur that Twenty20 is indeed faster, more spectacular and more exciting than baseball. This will impress Americans who mostly believe cricket is a slow game played by English gentlemen.
Soccer pulled in Pele in the 1970s so that the sport could hit the ground running in the US. It took 25 years, but the Major League Soccer competition in the US has solidified its place on the American sporting landscape and appears here to stay. Cricket will do the same thing. A few high profile cricketers, perhaps Sachin Tendulkar and Brett Lee, must lead the way.
Another tactic should be for local Twenty20 teams to align themselves with baseball clubs. These clubs make unbelievable amounts of money and investing a tiny percentage on something that has sizeable potential is a risk they will believe is worth taking.
It might take 25 years – and a whole lot of hard work – but cricket’s new brand will find its feet in the US.
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