Warne in the USA: Bringing cricket to America

Can you see 49,000 New Yorkers cheering madly for Brian Lara? A cricket ball getting stuck in the famous ivy of Wrigley Field? Vin Scully’s dulcet tones calling out, “caught Gilchrist, bowled McGrath?”

Sounds ludicrous, doesn’t it?

Yet it would be equally silly to dismiss the power of Shane Warne and Sachin Tendulkar, who are planning to take a cricket circus on the road in an attempt to see if it can interest American sports fans.

The two icons of cricket have announced a potential tour with a group of fellow legends – including Lara, Gilchrist and McGrath – playing Twenty20 games at Yankee Stadium, Dodger Stadium and Wrigley Field.

Warne also says he has had talks with the city of Las Vegas about a purpose-built cricket stadium for future matches.

It’s the reverse of what we’ve been seeing (or are about to see) in Australia, with visits from the likes of Liverpool and Real Madrid, and a potential college bowl game in Melbourne next year.

Or to use Warne’s words, like the Harlem Globetrotters.

It’s part of a global sports world that is getting smaller all the time.

This weekend, local Washingtonians cheered on Jason Day in person at Chambers Bay, while at the same time, thousands of Victorians watched on their televisions here in Australia.

The NBA Finals got exceptional coverage in the Australian media, while Jarryd Hayne had the San Francisco 49ers’ beat writer watching and writing a column about State of Origin.

However, that doesn’t mean that Yankee Stadium – The House that Ruth Built – is ready to swap home runs for sixes and A-Rod for Akram.

I will say that if cricket is going to make any major inroads in the American market, than this is probably the way to do it. Twenty20 makes the most sense, although I’ve always felt that splitting the overs up further – ten/ten/ten/ten – would be even more palatable to Americans used to baseball.

But to be honest, this may not aimed at the ‘typical’ American sports fan.
According to a story on DreamCricket.com, an ESPN vice president claimed there are 30 million cricket fans in the United States with an average income of $75,000 per year.

Perhaps that estimate is too high, but there is no doubt that the sub-continent diaspora – which includes two million Indian-born immigrants – is growing quickly.

Until ESPN came along, cricket was only available in the US via pay-per-view. And its numbers were good, although trailing the obvious leaders, boxing, pro wrestling and Mixed Martial Arts.

So attracting Indians, Pakistanis, Sri Lankans – and of course the occasional Brit, Kiwi or Aussie – probably won’t be an issue. Will that be enough to fill those sacred baseball venues?

Quite possibly, especially if you throw in a few curious Yanks. And their ranks are growing in numbers too.

We are entering a period of global open-mindedness among sports fans.

When I first moved to Melbourne in 1999 it wasn’t uncommon for me to run into people who not only didn’t know or like US sports, they were openly hostile towards them. They weren’t afraid to share their opinions of ‘gridiron’ with me.

Now it’s a rare day when I meet someone like that. Many may still not understand or like the NFL or the NBA, but they know who Andrew Bogut is and they know who Tom Brady is. They understand its importance in the big picture.

The US has taken longer to warm to ‘non-American’ sports, but thanks to the English Premier League, the FIFA World Cup and Major League Soccer, the barriers have been breached. Yes there is still a large anti-soccer crowd in the United States – mostly older, often less economically well-off – but their numbers are dwindling.

EPL and UEFA Champions League television ratings go up every year. Rugby, boosted by the growing presence of Sevens, is on more US TV screens than ever before. The NBA and NHL are full of Europeans, while Major League Baseball has players from South America, the Caribbean, Korea and Japan.

So why not cricket?

Although it’s a tough game to understand, T20 is certainly easier to figure out than Test cricket. It’s also quicker, fits the American mindset and as we know, works for TV.

Doing a three-match exhibition tour in iconic stadiums makes perfect sense. Like the early visits to US shores by EPL clubs – I watched Manchester United play Celtic in Seattle in 2003 – it’s a foot in the door or a toe-dip in the water. Pick your cliché.

Does it matter that these are retired players, rather than current day superstars? I don’t think so. These guys carry enough cachet that the real fans still admire them and the average American won’t know the difference.

There is some concern about the state of cricket in the US, with the original organising body, the USACA, facing sanctions for financial and governance issues. A rival group, the ACF wants to be the sport’s representative body, and the ICC is trying to rectify the situation.

Whether this has an impact on the Warne-Tendulkar plan is yet to be seen, but with the enormous possibilities of opening up the American market, you’d think the ICC would figure out a way to smooth over any problems.

As I’ve said many times, it may be a niche sport, but a niche sport in a country of 300 million can still be successful.

Now to explain leg byes. And silly point. And wides. And maidens. Oh well, you’ve gotta start somewhere.