Could cricket be America's next great pastime? As the T20 Cricket World Cup winds down—played, for the first time, on American soil—another U.S. cricket moment is on the horizon: Major League Cricket begins its second season next week. The league may new, but its backers are powerful. Team owners include Microsoft's Satya Nadella, Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen, and venture capitalist and former Amazon tech director Anand Rajaraman (whose aptly-named team is the San Francisco Unicorns). They’re hoping to tap into a diaspora fanbase that’s committed to its favorite sport. And they want to convert some more traditional American sports fans, as well. As Nadella’s co-investor in the Seattle Orcas club S. Somasegar says: “We think we would have failed if 10 or 20 years from now, we are still targeted only at the diaspora.” Talib Visram took at look at the (re)birth of American cricket for Fast Company and what it means for how the sport is played around the world. https://lnkd.in/eUejp8rR
I think it’s the next obvious mainstream sport to come to the US. When I arrived from the UK in 1994, soccer was for women only. Now we have the MLS. Ditto rugby. Next cricket. Lmk how I can help with the expansion and market of cricket in Seattle.
Love this, Talib Visram! We took the kids and it was such an awesome experience for my former cricket-star husband!!
🇺🇸 🏏 💻 Cricket & Code S. Somasegar! Cricket for good: Amy Farley we can see high school introducing Cricket as sport in New Jersey like West Windsor-Plainsboro, Rutgers University and 🤔 next possibility in NCAA Adhikari S (Ady) Roshan Varadarajan Venu Palaparthi
Similar growth is happening for cricket in Canada based on a number of recent developments that could have also been a focus of the story
Cricket is ready to capture USA imagination
Amy Farley couldn’t agree more, excited to see the growth of the game here in the U.S.
Exploring...
1moUS ambassador to India Eric Garcetti (former mayor of LA) played a central role in bringing cricket to the Olympic games at LA in 2028. https://x.com/USAmbIndia/status/1806915257799164326?t=J047xbclHN9Tas0b2XJ9_w&s=09