In the field of social psychology, there is an idea called the Minimal Group Paradigm. In a minimal group study, scientists try and discover the slightest, most trivial, basis by which people will form groups. As it turns out, we will form groups – and begin to feel in-group bias and out-group prejudice – over some pretty arbitrary conditions like, say, shirt colour or sports team affiliation. But that’s not where I want to take this idea. I want to borrow it and place it in a new context. I call it the Minimal Swag Paradigm. The question now becomes: What is the minimal amount or quality of free stuff a team can give fans to buy their loyalty? This is kind of a rigged game in the case of Major League Cricket (MLC) for a few reasons. However, nearly all MLC teams still felt the need to play.
First, not everyone attending the first two days of action at Grand Prairie stadium is a neutral. Three teams are at least partly owned by IPL clubs. Before the competition started, I wondered if IPL loyalties would translate to MLC. In other words, would a CSK supporter automatically support their Texas counterpart? My completely anecdotal and nonscientific data on this issue is that, yes, they mostly will. Second, for the fans that went to the stadium with either little knowledge of cricket or little team affiliation, there may have been a natural inclination toward the home team, the Texas Super Kings. We’ll get to test this hypothesis a little further soon, but my hunch is that this is true as well. Texans are Texans first and Americans second, and I’m barely exaggerating here.
Third, and I believe this is most important, the Minimal Swag Paradigm gets flipped on its head when there are multiple groups competing for fan loyalty. In that case, there is a risk for creating a “swag arms race”. The team that can produce the most in-demand swag wins and gets a leg up on securing lifelong fandom and merchandise sales. Now that each team has played, we can compare and contrast the quantity and quality of their swag. I don’t think the first three games have done anything to disprove the paradigm. If we compare team swag offered for each of the first three games, the team offering the most in-demand free stuff has carried the crowd even if they haven’t gotten the win. I have managed to collect nearly every piece of team-offered swag over the first two days (for science), and I believe we can make comparisons.
Game 1 – Texas Super Kings vs. LA Knight Riders
Texas Swag – a flag and whistles (I didn’t get a whistle and I don’t want one because I have kids and they may have found it).
LAKR Swag – also a flag.
Here we see a couple of themes. First, four out of six teams handed out flags, and they were very popular. Second, owing to its predilection for making things larger (just do a Google image search for “Everything’s Bigger in Texas”… safe search on, naturally), the TSK flag was the largest of the four flags handed out over the first two days.
It’s a good flag, too, and it was waved prominently by fans on Day one of the tournament. Aside from the fact that it seemed like everyone had one though, they were suspiciously difficult to come by. An extremely generous couple eventually gave me one of theirs and refused my offer of payment. The LAKR flag, despite being more aesthetically pleasing (in my opinion) was quite easy to find discarded throughout the stadium, even before they were bowled out for 112.
Advantage: TSK
🚨Unforgettable opening night of #MajorLeagueCricket.
Merchandise flies off the shelves! CSK fans from India unite with Texas Super Kings.@seanfbrown reports from the ground👇@ThumsUpOfficial @MLCricket #MLC2023 pic.twitter.com/sJstRv2KIv
— RevSportz (@RevSportz) July 14, 2023
Game 2 – MI New York vs. San Francisco Unicorns
MI New York Swag – a flag and a T-Shirt (they had so many and were so generous with them that I somehow ended up with 3)
Unicorns Swag – none
This was a huge miss for SFU, in my opinion. There was an absolute ton of blue dispersed amongst the fans for the first game of the Day 2 doubleheader. I had a tough time finding Unicorns gear in the crowd. Despite being the clear-cut most entertaining batting side of the first set of games, I’m not sure they won many converts. They were completely and thoroughly outclassed in the swag department.
Huge advantage: MI New York (everywhere but the scoreboard)
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Game 3 – Washington Freedom vs. Seattle Orcas
Washington Swag – Inflatable clapping sticks or “boom boom” sticks
Orcas Swag – a flag, a cap, and towels
Another huge win here, this time for the Orcas. When I first saw people with Orcas flags, I went up to grab one. What I found was pure chaos and carnage (the pics do not do it justice). I ended up with a flag and three towels, but I gave the cap I was lucky enough to snag to a kid because they ran out early (potentially catastrophic error) and he looked like he really wanted one. I’m not heartless. And while Seattle may have underestimated the desire for caps, they brought plenty of flags and towels, and they were everywhere. To be honest, I thought the flags were pretty cheaply made compared to other teams, but it did not seem to bother their new legions of fans. Bonus points to Seattle for having the best logo/mascot: Yorka the Orca. Excellent work nearly all around. Double bonus points for practicality. I soaked my towel in cool water to combat the heat and it felt like a tiny slice of heaven on the back of my neck.
I never was able to grab the Washington clappers. I looked several times but could never even locate where they were handing them out. In any event, I saw few in the crowd and heard even fewer. Real swing and a miss, there. I’ll throw a picture of generic ones in the article in case you’re not sure what I’m talking about.
Substantial Advantage: Seattle
Nauman Anwar and Imad Wasim star in Seattle Oscars’ 5 wicket-win over Washington Freedom in the 3rd game of the #MajorLeagueCricket.@seanfbrown reviews from the ground👇@ThumsUpOfficial #MLC2023 pic.twitter.com/Q9sUjPp74O
— RevSportz (@RevSportz) July 15, 2023
Overall, Seattle was the clear winner of The Battle for Swag Supremacy. They gave away popular stuff, have a great mascot, and they were lucky enough to hand their items when seemingly the entire Dallas Youth Cricket Club was in the section directly in front of them. They started Orcas chants and songs and waved Orca flags tirelessly. It was magnificent. And you have to think that at least one – and probably more – of those kids just became lifelong Orcas supporters. If I wasn’t a native Texan and bound by the outdated norms of my kind, I think I would be as well. Nevertheless, I think TSK was a solid second in my made-up contest, so I feel pretty good about my choices.
I have no idea whether the swag arms race is over now that all 6 teams have played, but it definitely wouldn’t hurt to throw a few more freebies our way. At this rate, I’ll need more luggage just to get it all back home!
Also Read: Party begins: MLC Shows the Path for Cricket in America