Ryan Bachoo
Lead Editor - Newsgathering
ryan.bachoo@cnc3.co.tt
The “threat” of American cricket was an overcast cloud that hung over Caricom’s Regional Cricket Conference on Thursday and Friday at the Hyatt Regency in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad and Tobago.
The first mention of it came from Guyana’s President, Dr Irfaan Ali. In a pre-recorded address played to the audience, Dr Ali warned, “We cannot leave this conference without discussing the threats - the threats with the growing North American cricket that can bring in a lot more fans and a lot more revenue. I believe we need to examine whether we need to move West Indies cricket from the West Indies Cricket Board to the American Cricket Board, because we have to now move towards owning cricket in the Americas, and how do we develop a strategy where West Indies cricket becomes the owner of cricket within the Americas.”
It’s a concern that would be echoed several times throughout the conference by differing stakeholders including Prime Ministers Dr Keith Rowley and Mia Mottley.
<The rise of Major League Cricket>
Their concerns are warranted. Just this week, Forbes reported how America’s Major League Cricket is luring top Australian players to the United States league which has had more than $100 million invested mainly driven by influential Indian businessmen some of whom are from Silicon Valley.
The Indian news outlet ETV Bharat reported yesterday, “The allure of a new sporting frontier in the vast US market has captivated investors. Their financial backing fuels infrastructure development, league promotion, and the potential recruitment of international cricket stars, bolstering the sport’s profile. Investors have shown immense faith in the growth potential of cricket in the US, pouring in over $1 billion to bolster its expansion efforts.”
The steady rise has seen the International Cricket Council award T20 World Cup group matches in June to the US. The likes of Sri Lanka, South Africa, India, and Pakistan will all be on show. The US will host 16 matches in total.
<”A tsunami of problems”>
The Caribbean Premier League (CPL) has recognised the potential of the American market, and has, in recent years taken some of its matches to Florida. However, in a conversation with the media at the Regional Cricket Conference, CPL CEO Pete Russell said the growing popularity of the sport in the Americas could spell trouble for this region.
He said, “I think there is a tsunami of problems coming down the road. America is one. They are going to have the money to pump into players and pump into leagues once they get their act together so I think America is a real problem for the Caribbean and a problem for CPL.”
He said Cricket West Indies (CWI) should have been ahead of the game five years ago “but it’s even more important now because if you just keep doing the same thing, everything is going to pass you by.”
Russell went further in explaining that the share price MLC franchises will be able to pay players will knock the Caribbean out of the park. “They’ll be able to afford players. We [CPL] can’t move above $US900 thousand. That is right on the limit cause people are still losing money at that so I can’t suddenly wave a magic wand and say we’ll pay players $US3m. We just can’t do it.”
Instead, Russell says the region must play on other touchpoints that attract fans such as the atmosphere and passion but he admits “At the end of the day it’s going to come down to hard currency and America will be able to afford it.”
<Cameron: Embrace America, not compete>
While some have sounded the alarm bells on MLC, former CWI president Dave Cameron says the rise of American cricket presents more opportunities than threats. “I saw it as an opportunity,” he told Guardian Media in response to a question about Caribbean concerns about the impact MLC will have on the region.
He added, “For the one singular reason, we are Small Island Developing States (SIDS). Although there are resources to be gained in cricket and the value of cricket, as four million people, we are never going to be able to realise that, but having a strong nation in our hemisphere, the will to be able to exploit that and helping them to get to that level could only prove beneficial to the countries or more so the players from the region.”
Cameron went further in saying it is the governments “who are probably thinking of the threats to themselves hosting cricket” but he said there will be more opportunities for regional cricketers. “A big part of the reason why West Indies cricket is in the state it is in is because we are not getting the best athletes playing cricket because cricket does not provide an opportunity for education in the United States,” Cameron, who spent 17 years as part of the CWI board, said.
The Jamaican, who served as president of CWI between 2013 and 2019 said this is why he was at the forefront during his time in office trying to develop the sport in the US.
Cameron says it is now too late for CWI to “own” cricket in the Americas as Dr Ali alluded to.
<Cameron: Rowley right on point>
The former CWI head said Dr Rowley touched on the white elephant in the room when he raised the problem of player contracts. This is an issue Cameron came face to face with during his time in office. He told Guardian Media Sports, “We continue to spend resources on our players and everybody keeps talking about spending money on the youth and his argument was how does the structure get rewarded for those players who then become superstars? You spend all this money and then they have no obligation to the structure. That is the biggest elephant in the room.”
He said until the board addresses those commercial things “then everything else is talk.”
Cameron went further in adding that changing the governance structure, changing the directors, and how they get elected do not bring resources to the game.
On Thursday and Friday last week, Caricom hosted a Regional Cricket Conference with different stakeholders to discuss the different issues facing West Indies cricket. Among the legends of the game to attend included Rev Sir Wes Hall, Gordon Greenidge, Dr Desmond Haynes, and Sir Clive Lloyd. CWI’s president Dr Kishore Shallow, vice president Azim Bassarath, and CEO Johnny Grave represented the board.