Cricket has been widely regarded as one of the most popular sports in the world. With over 2.5 billion fans worldwide, it’s the second most popular sport, falling closely behind soccer.
The sport has a long and complex history in the United States.
Cricket originated in the early 17th century in southeast England. It was played in 1833 at Haverford College, University of Pennsylvania, Harvard, Princeton, Cornell, and Columbia.
While the sport didn’t take off well in the U.S., it was quickly adopted in countries like India, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Pakistan, and Bangladesh.
Now, some of the biggest investors in the U.S. are looking to bring professional cricket to the U.S., where there is an estimated 63 million fans.
After a slow start due to COVID-19, Major League Cricket launched and is currently playing its inaugural season in July 2023.
Cricket is the Second Most Popular Sport in the World
In America, the NFL reigns supreme, and baseball is known as “America’s National Pastime”.
However, globally, Cricket is the second most popular sport in the world, reaching 2.5 billion fans across 180 nations.
In India alone, there are about 1 billion fans and Cricket’s biggest stars have a huge reach on social media.
For reference, cricket star Virat Kohli has 256 million Instagram followers, which is more followers than some of America’s biggest athletes, including LeBron James, Tiger Woods, Patrick Mahomes, and more.
And with many fans from other countries now residing in the States, the U.S. suddenly has a huge cricket market. There are about 63 million fans engaging in the sport annually from the United States.
Check out the list below for Cricket’s biggest markets in the world.
- India — 535 Million
- China — 408 Million
- United States — 63 Million
- Indonesia — 55 Million
- Brazil — 25 Million
Major League Cricket Plans For The U.S.
Earlier this summer, thousands of fans traveled to a sold-out stadium in North Texas to watch the first-ever Major League Cricket event in the United States. Fans traveled from all over the country like California, Florida, and New York to pack into a venue of over 100 degrees Fahrenheit to watch the match.
The atmosphere was said to be “electric”, as fans witness the beginning of Major League Cricket in the U.S.
With billions of fans around the world, the U.S.-based Cricket League has raised over $120 million in funding from some of the biggest executive techs, including Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella and Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen.
Big things are happening for the league in the near future too.
The MLC is expected to play a shorter version of cricket called T20, which is supposed to produce more hits and scoring in just three hours.
There are also major stadium renovations happening in Texas and North Carolina. Meanwhile, Shah Rukh Khan, an MLC investor committed funds to build a 10,000-seat cricket stadium in Los Angeles.
Recently, USA Cricket granted Major League Cricket the exclusive license to run a professional T20 league in the U.S.
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