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While the world's most popular sport has grabbed the attention of U.S. sports fans, the world's second-most popular sport is beginning to gain major traction in the country as well.
While all eyes are on the 2026 FIFA World Cup and what the rest of the world calls football, cricket is another sport that is gaining attention across the country.
In 2024, the U.S. hosted the ICC Men's T20 World Cup for the first time, which culminated in Team USA picking up a major upset win over cricket-power Pakistan. In the 2028 Olympics, cricket will be one of the sports played when Los Angeles hosts.
REQUIRED READING: Similarities between cricket, baseball ahead of T20 Cricket World Cup
"We've got this great opportunity to get cricket to be more visible," CEO of Major League Cricket Johnny Grave told USA TODAY Sports. "We've obviously got Major League Cricket that makes the game a bit more accessible and visible in this country.
"It's the Olympic halo effect we're about to see," Grave added. "Between now and the L.A. Olympics, we have a chance to add to the legacy of the game.
In Graves' estimation, the best way to grow the sport would be to build from the bottom up with youth leagues and organizations. But getting the sport into high schools could also be a major key.
Major League Cricket (MLC) is entering its fourth season in the United States, with the season starting June 18 and running through July 18. Games will be played with the six founding franchises — Los Angeles Knight Riders, MI New York, San Francisco Unicorns, Seattle Orcas, Texas Super Kings and Washington Freedom — continuing to play.
Games are played at three venues — Grand Prairie Stadium (Grand Prairie, Texas), Oakland Coliseum (Oakland, California) and Knight Riders Cricket Ground (Pomona, California).
"With Major League Cricket, because we don't yet have every team playing in home venues, there's still an awful long way to go for us to go as a league in terms of accessibility and local fandom," Grave said. "If you Google search 'Major League Cricket tickets,' you can find them pretty easily with a couple of clicks. Our attendances are growing and our digital audiences and engagement are growing and our broadcast visibility, not just here in the US, but across the world, is growing exponentially year on year."
While cricket is not as popular in the United States, it is widely recognized as the second-biggest sport in the world behind soccer. The sport boasts a whopping 2.5 billion fans, mostly hailing from South Asia (including India and Pakistan), the United Kingdom, Australia and the Caribbean.
"With big expat communities from the Indian subcontinent, Australia, England and South Africa, moving to the U.S., there's more awareness of the sport," Grave said. "More people are playing it than ever and there are more facilities. Historically, it's been the facilities that have held USA cricket back."
To help grow the sport, all six MLC franchises have youth programs built out to get young players into the system early and to grow with the franchise.
"In terms of the sort of player pathway in the US, we want to see schools and colleges in terms of mass participation," Grave said.
To get to that end and build up youth participation, the American Cricket Enterprises, which is the overarching organization, has a few different elements. There is the MLC, Minor League Cricket, and then there are the stadium development and the US national teams that help grow the sport with youth.
To that end, rising players Ishan Vairagiwala and Aaryan Batra are part of one of the MLC's founding franchises, the Washington Freedom, as winners of the "Pathway to Freedom" initiative, which provides a platform for youth from the academy in the DC/Maryland/Virginia region to train with the Freedom team during the pre-season camp.
Both Vairagiwala and Batara have the opportunity to play under head coach Ricky Ponting, a former Australian international player, who is regarded as one of the best batsmen ever.
Both players have seen significant growth in cricket at the youth level, even if it has not quite yet reached high schools.
"When I started playing cricket, there were maybe three or four clubs with max one team per club in the local youth leagues," Vairagiwala said. "Now, in the local youth leagues, each club has three or four teams, with each club having 200 players now."
Vairagiwala added that the local clubs now unofficially represent local high schools as a way to build both school pride and interest in the sport.
While cricket is still popular with the expat communities, local interest from Americans is continuing to grow.
"A lot of my non-Asian friends, especially when the USA beat Pakistan, were like, 'Oh, even a team like the USA can compete in a tournament,'" Batara said. "With the U.S. hosting it and now the Olympics, they are getting more into it. It's something for them to watch."
Grave added that the "novelty factor" of cricket also makes it interesting for potential new players.
"I think we found that when kids play cricket, conceptually, because the bat is flat, square and bigger, it's easier for kids to hit the ball than it is in baseball," Grave said. "The fact, again, that with cricket, you have the full freedom to score the full 360 degrees, where in baseball, you're very restricted, kids actually instantly sort of like it because you've got the freedom to hit the ball anywhere and it's easier to hit the ball because the bat is shaped in such a way that, you know, it's easier to connect."
On Oct. 23, 2023, it was announced that cricket — both men's and women's — would be added to the 2026 Olympics. It was last included in 1900.
Grave said that he feels like the 2024 T20 World Cup and the upcoming L.A. Olympics will give the sport its best chance at growing in the US.
Getting the sport more popular with younger players could help force the sport find its way to be sanctioned across states.
"That would be our vision of a player pathway with really American cricket enterprises through the minor league, focusing very much on hardball competitive cricket," Grave said. "In terms of our mass participation, ... just getting kids introduced to the sport and trying to get them to understand it and fall in love with it."
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Cricket continues to grow in America ahead of 2028 Los Angeles Olympics
Continue reading...
While all eyes are on the 2026 FIFA World Cup and what the rest of the world calls football, cricket is another sport that is gaining attention across the country.
In 2024, the U.S. hosted the ICC Men's T20 World Cup for the first time, which culminated in Team USA picking up a major upset win over cricket-power Pakistan. In the 2028 Olympics, cricket will be one of the sports played when Los Angeles hosts.
REQUIRED READING: Similarities between cricket, baseball ahead of T20 Cricket World Cup
"We've got this great opportunity to get cricket to be more visible," CEO of Major League Cricket Johnny Grave told USA TODAY Sports. "We've obviously got Major League Cricket that makes the game a bit more accessible and visible in this country.
"It's the Olympic halo effect we're about to see," Grave added. "Between now and the L.A. Olympics, we have a chance to add to the legacy of the game.
In Graves' estimation, the best way to grow the sport would be to build from the bottom up with youth leagues and organizations. But getting the sport into high schools could also be a major key.
Major League Cricket (MLC) is entering its fourth season in the United States, with the season starting June 18 and running through July 18. Games will be played with the six founding franchises — Los Angeles Knight Riders, MI New York, San Francisco Unicorns, Seattle Orcas, Texas Super Kings and Washington Freedom — continuing to play.
Games are played at three venues — Grand Prairie Stadium (Grand Prairie, Texas), Oakland Coliseum (Oakland, California) and Knight Riders Cricket Ground (Pomona, California).
"With Major League Cricket, because we don't yet have every team playing in home venues, there's still an awful long way to go for us to go as a league in terms of accessibility and local fandom," Grave said. "If you Google search 'Major League Cricket tickets,' you can find them pretty easily with a couple of clicks. Our attendances are growing and our digital audiences and engagement are growing and our broadcast visibility, not just here in the US, but across the world, is growing exponentially year on year."
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How cricket is growing in at the youth and high school levels
While cricket is not as popular in the United States, it is widely recognized as the second-biggest sport in the world behind soccer. The sport boasts a whopping 2.5 billion fans, mostly hailing from South Asia (including India and Pakistan), the United Kingdom, Australia and the Caribbean.
"With big expat communities from the Indian subcontinent, Australia, England and South Africa, moving to the U.S., there's more awareness of the sport," Grave said. "More people are playing it than ever and there are more facilities. Historically, it's been the facilities that have held USA cricket back."
To help grow the sport, all six MLC franchises have youth programs built out to get young players into the system early and to grow with the franchise.
"In terms of the sort of player pathway in the US, we want to see schools and colleges in terms of mass participation," Grave said.
To get to that end and build up youth participation, the American Cricket Enterprises, which is the overarching organization, has a few different elements. There is the MLC, Minor League Cricket, and then there are the stadium development and the US national teams that help grow the sport with youth.
To that end, rising players Ishan Vairagiwala and Aaryan Batra are part of one of the MLC's founding franchises, the Washington Freedom, as winners of the "Pathway to Freedom" initiative, which provides a platform for youth from the academy in the DC/Maryland/Virginia region to train with the Freedom team during the pre-season camp.
Both Vairagiwala and Batara have the opportunity to play under head coach Ricky Ponting, a former Australian international player, who is regarded as one of the best batsmen ever.
Both players have seen significant growth in cricket at the youth level, even if it has not quite yet reached high schools.
"When I started playing cricket, there were maybe three or four clubs with max one team per club in the local youth leagues," Vairagiwala said. "Now, in the local youth leagues, each club has three or four teams, with each club having 200 players now."
Vairagiwala added that the local clubs now unofficially represent local high schools as a way to build both school pride and interest in the sport.
While cricket is still popular with the expat communities, local interest from Americans is continuing to grow.
"A lot of my non-Asian friends, especially when the USA beat Pakistan, were like, 'Oh, even a team like the USA can compete in a tournament,'" Batara said. "With the U.S. hosting it and now the Olympics, they are getting more into it. It's something for them to watch."
Grave added that the "novelty factor" of cricket also makes it interesting for potential new players.
"I think we found that when kids play cricket, conceptually, because the bat is flat, square and bigger, it's easier for kids to hit the ball than it is in baseball," Grave said. "The fact, again, that with cricket, you have the full freedom to score the full 360 degrees, where in baseball, you're very restricted, kids actually instantly sort of like it because you've got the freedom to hit the ball anywhere and it's easier to hit the ball because the bat is shaped in such a way that, you know, it's easier to connect."
On Oct. 23, 2023, it was announced that cricket — both men's and women's — would be added to the 2026 Olympics. It was last included in 1900.
Grave said that he feels like the 2024 T20 World Cup and the upcoming L.A. Olympics will give the sport its best chance at growing in the US.
Getting the sport more popular with younger players could help force the sport find its way to be sanctioned across states.
"That would be our vision of a player pathway with really American cricket enterprises through the minor league, focusing very much on hardball competitive cricket," Grave said. "In terms of our mass participation, ... just getting kids introduced to the sport and trying to get them to understand it and fall in love with it."
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Cricket continues to grow in America ahead of 2028 Los Angeles Olympics
Continue reading...
