I’ve returned home to Columbus, Ohio, after four days in a cricket-induced haze. I had a hard time remembering what day it was this morning when I woke up to head to the airport. I wasn’t sure what time my flight was, but I know it went by faster than it should have, because I was finally able to catch up on a little bit of sleep on the way home.
For four days, I lived a sports lover’s dream: just live for the games, talk about the game with other fans, stay up late watching the ending, sleep little, and do it all over again the next day. It was hot and steamy. The LA Knight Riders may be bad beyond redemption. But it was truly magnificent, because it felt like we were all living in the same dream. Everyone felt it was too good to be true but, for once, it wasn’t. Major League Cricket (MLC) had, in fact, pulled it off.
The question now is: can they sustain it? Can they make it bigger? It’s impossible to intuit the future of cricket in the United States after only four days, or even after the 17 it will take to complete this competition. But we’re probably going to try and do it anyway because it’s the sport fan’s nature. Predictions are a form of currency, and we’re all printing presses.
So, what did the MLC do well? What are the things that will keep fans coming back year on year? I’ll answer these questions by trying to act as a proxy for the fans I spoke with. I spent a lot of time in the stands and walking the ground talking to fans and workers, so I feel like I have some idea of the prevailing feelings within the grounds.
Creating the right watching experience
I’ll start with perhaps the most important thing MLC seems to have gotten right: the quality of play and the players they have been able to attract. Fans seemed very pleased with the overall quality of play, LAKR notwithstanding (fans were absolutely baffled by their showing in the first two matches). Players couldn’t get anywhere near the boundary without hearing their names called deliriously by countless voices from the stands. Interestingly, while seeming perhaps a bit reserved early on by all the attention, by days 3 and 4, players were more interactive, acknowledging the adulation and signing autographs and taking selfies with fans between overs. I can’t pinpoint the source of the shift in mindset, but it was gratifying to see.
I’ve already covered this elsewhere, but I think that every team bar one (San Francisco Unicorns, we’re all very disappointed in you) did a fantastic job handing out branded gear and making fans feel like they were getting something for their money in addition to the game. One only has to look at the absolute sea of yellow in the stands when the Texas Super Kings have played, or the blue-clad MI New York supporters in the Day 4 nightcap to see how well it’s been going.
That’s not even mentioning the Seattle Orcas, who I still contend did the best job with their free stuff. I counted flags, caps, towels, and actual jerseys among the goodies they handed out. I know I’ve said earlier, that, being a Texan, I was honor bound to support TSK, but I might have discovered my threshold for having my nascent fandom bought. Orcas for life??
Logistical issues need to be addressed
Again, I’ve mentioned this elsewhere, but the four days I spent at Grand Prairie stadium were not perfect. There were, as you might expect, problems, issues, and inefficiencies that MLC will want to iron out to make the fan experience as friendly as possible. In addition to what I personally witnessed/went through, there has been some online grumbling about certain aspects of the experience. For the match-going fan, parking was a disaster, both in terms of the speed of getting cars into lots as well as pricing. You can literally get a ticket into the stadium cheaper than you can park your car at the ground. Given that there are no viable public transportation options, it’s a significant and legitimate complaint.
Also Read: MLC Day 2 – The Swag Arms Race
There were additionally parts of the in-stadium experience that were either not particularly fan-friendly or painfully disorganized. I found the in-stadium staff to be a little standoffish, and stadium rules were sometimes arbitrarily enforced with no explanation of why they changed from moment to moment. There was, for instance, a long-running battle to keep people from standing and leaning on the south end railing, but with no signage, no explanation, and an overzealous security guard, fans rightfully felt disrespected and confused. It didn’t help that many fans stood at that same railing unbothered for the first two days and it was perhaps the best view.
Finally, while I lauded player interactions with fans during the game, I never got the feeling that there was an effort to make them available before or after matches. There were no autograph tables, meet and greets, or any fan/player experiences that one might expect from a sport looking for its footing in the United States. I felt that was a poorly played shot… or maybe just a missed opportunity.
The uninitiated not initiated
This brings me to a note I wanted to get to, but I’m unable to decide whether I find it to be a net positive or negative for the league. Essentially, it’s this: there seems to have been no effort on the part of organizers to introduce or teach the game to fans in attendance who might not have known it going on. I know from my own conversations that there were plenty of those fans in attendance. There were no explanations of rules, language, or nuances of the game.
On the one hand, the die-hards in the crowd were probably relieved that an announcer in the stadium never explained rules that, to them, were elementary. However, I can’t help but think such a service might have been welcomed by ignorant but curious people in the crowd. It brings up the question of whether or not MLC organizers feel the league can be successful with a minimal number of converts. By their actions, I can only think they believe that they can. It doesn’t seem like a move to maximize return on investment, but maybe they were on to something, because…
Friends, fans and guides in the stands
The last, and most important, thing I want to mention are the people I met at the stadium. Perhaps event organizers were counting on existing fans to teach the game, because there was a lot of that going on. It was absolutely inspiring to see. Not once did I hear condescension or gatekeeping from well-established fans. Instead, I heard instance after instance of patience, openness, and kindness in explaining anything from fine-grained technical points to the most basic rules of the game.
I also had conversations with people far more knowledgeable about the game than myself, and they were comfortably my favorite part of this experience. Assigned seats were barely a polite suggestion, and it felt like the east stands were more of a mingling session than a place to park yourself for an entire game. Among the conversations I had and the people I met (and remembered to get names from): I spent two nights with Kamal — easily recognizable by his cowboy hat — who taught me a lot about contextual conditions and their effects on the game.
We also tried to figure out why no one can seem to bat well under the lights and why chasing seems to be nearly impossible so far in MLC (and congratulations on your degree, even if you are a Longhorn!). I also met Harish and Sam. Harish is an amateur fast bowler who helped me understand how to get the ball to move in different directions. He’s also a Chicago Bears fan, but we collectively decided to forgive him for that in Dallas Cowboys country. It all adds up to this: I felt, for the first time at a professional sporting event — a real and genuine sense of community, the type normally reserved in the US for college or high school contests.
It was an incredibly welcoming environment, and the crowds who made it to Grand Prairie from elsewhere in the DFW area or from elsewhere in the country (I met people who came from as far away as Seattle) were absolutely remarkable. If this league succeeds, it will be in no small part because of them.
There’s a market, time to build on this
Again, I don’t presume to know the fate of cricket in the US. There’s no doubt that it’s growing rapidly, and that there is a growing infrastructure to support it. I can also inform you that every single game scheduled for the Morrisville complex as listed on MLC’s website is sold out (even if the stadium is maybe half the size of the one in Grand Prairie). The Championship match — back in Grand Prairie after the North Carolina interlude — is also already sold out. This year’s competition will be, has already been actually, a success.
It’s clear that there is a passionate market for cricket. It may be primarily an expat market, or a second and third generation immigrant market, but it is there and willing to support this league. And if MLC doesn’t care about potential converts, cricket fans will be there to pick up the slack. The foundation is there. It’s time now for MLC to figure out what type of structure they want to build on it and then go back to work.