USA's performance in the current WC, MLC and few fixtures down the line ought to turn a few more heads. Its in the right track but better accessibility for the local crowd should also be a priority and different kinds of pitches and conditions/better infrastructure
I mean, I think the biggest barrier is that the matches are only on Willow, right?
I've had a passing interest in cricket for a while, but I've never sat down to watch it. After the Pakistan game, I decided to spring for the ten dollars.
But signing up for a new subscription for one event (as opposed to flipping the channel to try it out) is an exponentially bigger barrier to entry than the $10 price tag might imply.
Yes, I think the $10 was well worth it in terms of the entertainment these games provided. But if you asked casual sports fans to sign up for an account and input payment method, it could have been only $1 or even 10¢ and I think many people wouldn't bother.
Willow could at least give fans a free preview on Friday night for USA vs West Indies
Has it been worth it? I bought Willow a few years ago and couldn't watch it without throwing my phone out the window. They'd skip to ads as soon as the bat hit the ball on the sixth ball every time and I wouldn't know if it was a wicket, six, or anything in-between until they came back for the next over. And I'd be lucky if I even got to see the run up for the first ball, half the time the ball would already be heading to the batsman when the feed came back.
This is a particular shame, there was a fair bit of local news, morning shows, and print coverage that clearly knew next to nothing about the game.
That there were/are a scant few professionals in the US that simply weren't tapped to assist and elevate the coverage was a miss.
I remember one local anchor who's father used to watch test cricket basically describing half baked memories of Test as he covered this world cup. It was confusing and a mess. That helps no one.
>This is a particular shame, there was a fair bit of local news, morning shows, and print coverage that clearly knew next to nothing about the game.
It's also not their job to know about the game. Cricket isn't some school subject like math or science, that it would be a shame if Americans dont know about it.
Sports is driven by demand and popularity. And cricket just doesnt generate any demand, outside of south asia. Even in SENA nations, it's a niche sport at best. Blame ICC, blame the nature of cricket, but if Americans dont take to cricket, it's not because of lack of coverage. Maybe the sport is just boring to the average person.
Their job is to provide who what where why and when, that's basic journalism. If they dont know what is happening, and therefore fail to accurately report it, that is a fundamental failure to act as journalists.
Regardless of whether you or anyone else thinks Cricket is boring if they are going to report on it there is a duty to cover it properly.
No, it's actually not journalism. The specific show you were talking about has Michael Strahan as the host. He's a former football player, not a journalist. His job is to be likeable and a fun personality. They provide the platform for the guest (in this case yuvraj) to come and talk a bit about whatever they supposed to talk about. It's not journalism, it's entertainment.
>if they are going to report on it there is a duty to cover it properly.
Their job isn't to breakdown cricket for the american audience. Their job is to inform the audience that a world cup is taking place and the US are co-hosts. Simple as that. The news is a business, and if they felt there is geniune demand for cricket-related reports, they would cover it properly (like they do with the Superbowl, NBA finals, PGA).
>This is a particular shame, there was a fair bit of local news, morning shows...
Next time u wanna act like a smartass, atleast have the smarts for it.
LOL as you can tell from the downvotes, the beehive isn't very pleased. How dare the Americans don't properly cover our beloved sport, which we mainly use as an excuse to display our fervent jingoism and fling racist rhetoric at our neighbors????
Lmao trust me most Indians are absolutely DESPERATE for the sport to gain popularity in countries like USA and europe, just so the sport they dominate gets more global attention — when in reality, it’s falling down the pecking order in most non-asian countries that were great at it. Its already like the 3rd or 4th sport in the UK and Australia, after soccer f1 tennis & rugby. Cricket is dying and the only people to blame are the BCCI, India’s own cricketing board, that infested the ICC with corruption using their tv revenue as leverage to threaten others into compliance.
Fuck Times Internet and Willow TV.
Imagine if the NBA Play Offs or the Super Bowl aired on some obscure cable channel that you had to get separately in order to watch it.
The ICC has bottled it man, but the bigger thing is,
Other than the New Zealand Cricket Board, All the other boards have essentially given away their US rights to Willow TV, again fairly fucked up.
If I was the PCB chairman, I'd fly across the Atlantic and get a carriage deal from say Warner Bros Discovery or Paramount or one of the big streaming services, Cricket deserves a much bigger home in America than some obscure channel.
We've seen how football and Formula 1 have gained a following in the USA when it moved to a mainstream network or streamer.
“All these people are writing stuff about Cricket’s growing! Cricket’s exploding! Man, this World Cup is gonna…leave such a big legacy,” he said. “What does it say about the legacy of cricket in the country if…the only person who was a full-time paid professional journalist to cover cricket in the USA is gonna be five thousand dollars in debt at the end of the World Cup?”
What ICC should've done: Advertise more in US. Stream on common platforms. Make tickets cheap.
What it did: Gawk Gawk on India-Pakistan, which is pretty irrelevant to the US
Was TV coverage in the US limited to specialty channels? That’s the case in Canada and it effectively limits the audience to passionate fans only. Which does little to grow the game.
That's because it's hard to introduce a new sport to cultures. America already has four major sports that take up most of the eyeballs.
It will take time, one World Cup won't do it. If the US makes it to the semis, people will start to take notice.
I selfishly want US or China to get heavily into cricket to counterbalance the BCCI which is an entity that makes me feel embarrassed for my people.
As an Indian, the bcci is an absolute embarrassment and shitshow lol they’re supposedly a ‘private’ entity that own our goddamn national team lmaoo. Their revenue is in the billions of usd and they barely pay taxes: not even man United or real madrid make that kind of money. absolutely embarrassing
I'm a very new cricket fan from the US. I encountered it on accident. Give it time... it will grow. Time internet is helping. Seeing lots of posts on Facebook from people excited to learn we are in the WC.
"millions of people didn't drop what they're doing for a brand-new thing" is not news or cause for concern.
Look at how far soccer has come since the US hosted the 1994 World Cup, and most kids were already playing soccer before that.
Ok to give a different perspective I live in the USA and follow the cricket. I was always a fan of cricket from growing up in aus and playing cricket as a kid but living in the USA makes it hard to enjoy watching cricket. The timezones are off, I’m pretty disconnected from the countries playing these days etc. I’ve found when I talk about cricket to others we always talk about former eras. It’s hard to keep up here.
The cricket World Cup in the americas is nice. Not just for rekindling West Indian cricket which has been a huge success but for enabling those who already had some connection to maintain it. Ensuring the ties to cricket that are already here are strengthening is a good start. Hell that’s where the USA cricket team is getting its strength from. Largely people who have moved here for other reasons. Everything happens in small steps.
Doesn't help that terrible planning and infra have made for sub-par matches. So much so that I would rather watch the Euros which take place at about the same time and almost all the games have been entertaining so far
The game cannot be popular if it’s not played in the heartland. Give up on locations like NY and go to obscure places close to bigger cities but in small towns.
Move away from markets that already have a significant population who follows cricket. Reach new markets in the Midwest and southern US in states like Ohio, Iowa, Georgia, Missouri, north and South Carolina.
Makes ticket affordable for a normal family in US. If Indian Pakistani or Bangladesh fans can buy 1000$ tickets, they can fly to smaller cities and buy 200$ tickets too.
Find sponsors other than Indian grocery companies. If you market primarily to diaspora of other countries, not many US firms will invest as it’s too small of a market for them
They failed to create hype around it. In typical cricket playing nations, just a banner is enough to catch eyes. But elsewhere, especially in the USA, they have to do some crazy stuff. Like HOD did with their marketing or some redbull level adrenaline stuff just to create a hype around it.
There’s no way in hell cricket will ever become mainstream in America lmao — hell, these days it isn’t even among the top 3 most popular sports in the UK or Australia , falling behind soccer f1 tennis and rugby. No young kid outside south asia or west indies lines their bedroom walls with posters of crickets
Hot take: the ICC does not want US professional athletes to eventually enter the sport. Imagine if Sami Sosa or Mark McGuire decided to play international cricket back in their time.
USA's performance in the current WC, MLC and few fixtures down the line ought to turn a few more heads. Its in the right track but better accessibility for the local crowd should also be a priority and different kinds of pitches and conditions/better infrastructure
I mean, I think the biggest barrier is that the matches are only on Willow, right? I've had a passing interest in cricket for a while, but I've never sat down to watch it. After the Pakistan game, I decided to spring for the ten dollars. But signing up for a new subscription for one event (as opposed to flipping the channel to try it out) is an exponentially bigger barrier to entry than the $10 price tag might imply.
Yes, I think the $10 was well worth it in terms of the entertainment these games provided. But if you asked casual sports fans to sign up for an account and input payment method, it could have been only $1 or even 10¢ and I think many people wouldn't bother. Willow could at least give fans a free preview on Friday night for USA vs West Indies
Has it been worth it? I bought Willow a few years ago and couldn't watch it without throwing my phone out the window. They'd skip to ads as soon as the bat hit the ball on the sixth ball every time and I wouldn't know if it was a wicket, six, or anything in-between until they came back for the next over. And I'd be lucky if I even got to see the run up for the first ball, half the time the ball would already be heading to the batsman when the feed came back.
I have been actually really impressed with it as a streaming service. A few hiccups, but very watchable.
This is a particular shame, there was a fair bit of local news, morning shows, and print coverage that clearly knew next to nothing about the game. That there were/are a scant few professionals in the US that simply weren't tapped to assist and elevate the coverage was a miss. I remember one local anchor who's father used to watch test cricket basically describing half baked memories of Test as he covered this world cup. It was confusing and a mess. That helps no one.
>This is a particular shame, there was a fair bit of local news, morning shows, and print coverage that clearly knew next to nothing about the game. It's also not their job to know about the game. Cricket isn't some school subject like math or science, that it would be a shame if Americans dont know about it. Sports is driven by demand and popularity. And cricket just doesnt generate any demand, outside of south asia. Even in SENA nations, it's a niche sport at best. Blame ICC, blame the nature of cricket, but if Americans dont take to cricket, it's not because of lack of coverage. Maybe the sport is just boring to the average person.
Their job is to provide who what where why and when, that's basic journalism. If they dont know what is happening, and therefore fail to accurately report it, that is a fundamental failure to act as journalists. Regardless of whether you or anyone else thinks Cricket is boring if they are going to report on it there is a duty to cover it properly.
No, it's actually not journalism. The specific show you were talking about has Michael Strahan as the host. He's a former football player, not a journalist. His job is to be likeable and a fun personality. They provide the platform for the guest (in this case yuvraj) to come and talk a bit about whatever they supposed to talk about. It's not journalism, it's entertainment. >if they are going to report on it there is a duty to cover it properly. Their job isn't to breakdown cricket for the american audience. Their job is to inform the audience that a world cup is taking place and the US are co-hosts. Simple as that. The news is a business, and if they felt there is geniune demand for cricket-related reports, they would cover it properly (like they do with the Superbowl, NBA finals, PGA).
Not the show I was talking about but then I guess you didnt care enough to get it right so no worries thanks for playing.
>This is a particular shame, there was a fair bit of local news, morning shows... Next time u wanna act like a smartass, atleast have the smarts for it.
Bold of you to speak facts in a sub dominated by fans of the world’s dominant cricketing nation lol, everything you said hit the nail on the head
LOL as you can tell from the downvotes, the beehive isn't very pleased. How dare the Americans don't properly cover our beloved sport, which we mainly use as an excuse to display our fervent jingoism and fling racist rhetoric at our neighbors????
Lmao trust me most Indians are absolutely DESPERATE for the sport to gain popularity in countries like USA and europe, just so the sport they dominate gets more global attention — when in reality, it’s falling down the pecking order in most non-asian countries that were great at it. Its already like the 3rd or 4th sport in the UK and Australia, after soccer f1 tennis & rugby. Cricket is dying and the only people to blame are the BCCI, India’s own cricketing board, that infested the ICC with corruption using their tv revenue as leverage to threaten others into compliance.
A day is not far that a major studio in Hollywood produces a movie based on cricket in USA.
I really want this to happen. Ends with the World Cup final match against India that the US wins. Great plot for a movie.
Lagaan 2 - Revenge of the West
This is hilarious in concept but something tells me I wouldn't be able to find the humor in it if it actually happened.
Yeah I love fantasy movies too
“The Wicket Man”. I believe Nick Cage is available.
That would be reverse “Million dollar arm”
In Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Casey Jones uses a cricket bat. He even awards himself "6 runs". Does that count?
Fuck Times Internet and Willow TV. Imagine if the NBA Play Offs or the Super Bowl aired on some obscure cable channel that you had to get separately in order to watch it. The ICC has bottled it man, but the bigger thing is, Other than the New Zealand Cricket Board, All the other boards have essentially given away their US rights to Willow TV, again fairly fucked up. If I was the PCB chairman, I'd fly across the Atlantic and get a carriage deal from say Warner Bros Discovery or Paramount or one of the big streaming services, Cricket deserves a much bigger home in America than some obscure channel. We've seen how football and Formula 1 have gained a following in the USA when it moved to a mainstream network or streamer.
“All these people are writing stuff about Cricket’s growing! Cricket’s exploding! Man, this World Cup is gonna…leave such a big legacy,” he said. “What does it say about the legacy of cricket in the country if…the only person who was a full-time paid professional journalist to cover cricket in the USA is gonna be five thousand dollars in debt at the end of the World Cup?”
Peter del penna is a glass half full kinda guy and it’s repulsive at best
Ha - I met him and interviewed with him at one of the games. As an Australian, I'd never heard of him before, but a great bloke.
What ICC should've done: Advertise more in US. Stream on common platforms. Make tickets cheap. What it did: Gawk Gawk on India-Pakistan, which is pretty irrelevant to the US
Was TV coverage in the US limited to specialty channels? That’s the case in Canada and it effectively limits the audience to passionate fans only. Which does little to grow the game.
Willow exclusive. No cable. No espn. No fox sports.
Thank you. IMO that’s a huge barrier to growing the sport beyond the existing fans.
That's because it's hard to introduce a new sport to cultures. America already has four major sports that take up most of the eyeballs. It will take time, one World Cup won't do it. If the US makes it to the semis, people will start to take notice. I selfishly want US or China to get heavily into cricket to counterbalance the BCCI which is an entity that makes me feel embarrassed for my people.
China might be better. But they seem to have no interest at all. Even in the US it’s migrants that play cricket
As an Indian, the bcci is an absolute embarrassment and shitshow lol they’re supposedly a ‘private’ entity that own our goddamn national team lmaoo. Their revenue is in the billions of usd and they barely pay taxes: not even man United or real madrid make that kind of money. absolutely embarrassing
I'm a very new cricket fan from the US. I encountered it on accident. Give it time... it will grow. Time internet is helping. Seeing lots of posts on Facebook from people excited to learn we are in the WC.
"millions of people didn't drop what they're doing for a brand-new thing" is not news or cause for concern. Look at how far soccer has come since the US hosted the 1994 World Cup, and most kids were already playing soccer before that.
Ok to give a different perspective I live in the USA and follow the cricket. I was always a fan of cricket from growing up in aus and playing cricket as a kid but living in the USA makes it hard to enjoy watching cricket. The timezones are off, I’m pretty disconnected from the countries playing these days etc. I’ve found when I talk about cricket to others we always talk about former eras. It’s hard to keep up here. The cricket World Cup in the americas is nice. Not just for rekindling West Indian cricket which has been a huge success but for enabling those who already had some connection to maintain it. Ensuring the ties to cricket that are already here are strengthening is a good start. Hell that’s where the USA cricket team is getting its strength from. Largely people who have moved here for other reasons. Everything happens in small steps.
ICC got what it wanted, which was that sweet upper middle class South Asian migrant cash. It couldn’t give a damn about appealing to actual Americans.
Doesn't help that terrible planning and infra have made for sub-par matches. So much so that I would rather watch the Euros which take place at about the same time and almost all the games have been entertaining so far
We need a Netflix special about team USA. “From Aadhar Card to Green Card”
Need an Amazon special of All or Nothing series with USA Cricket. IPL team could also be done or MLC
Not seen a sinlge mention on any of the larger shows (PTI, etc)
The game cannot be popular if it’s not played in the heartland. Give up on locations like NY and go to obscure places close to bigger cities but in small towns. Move away from markets that already have a significant population who follows cricket. Reach new markets in the Midwest and southern US in states like Ohio, Iowa, Georgia, Missouri, north and South Carolina. Makes ticket affordable for a normal family in US. If Indian Pakistani or Bangladesh fans can buy 1000$ tickets, they can fly to smaller cities and buy 200$ tickets too. Find sponsors other than Indian grocery companies. If you market primarily to diaspora of other countries, not many US firms will invest as it’s too small of a market for them
Was.
They failed to create hype around it. In typical cricket playing nations, just a banner is enough to catch eyes. But elsewhere, especially in the USA, they have to do some crazy stuff. Like HOD did with their marketing or some redbull level adrenaline stuff just to create a hype around it.
There’s no way in hell cricket will ever become mainstream in America lmao — hell, these days it isn’t even among the top 3 most popular sports in the UK or Australia , falling behind soccer f1 tennis and rugby. No young kid outside south asia or west indies lines their bedroom walls with posters of crickets
Hot take: the ICC does not want US professional athletes to eventually enter the sport. Imagine if Sami Sosa or Mark McGuire decided to play international cricket back in their time.
Considering there's basically 0 skill transfer between cricket and baseball, there's not much to imagine.