One of the biggest factors for cricket not being more popular in this country is lack of suitable stadiums to hold games. Vast majority of the stadiums here are much too narrow for cricket. Niche sports like soccer, rugby, and lacrosse all were able to get things going here by renting stadiums built for other sports. Cricket, unfortunately, needs some investors to invest big in stadiums right from the start. The cricket ground in Florida was built for $70 mil but the investments probably don't have to be that big. Instead of building permanent concrete stadiums they can go with some modular 5,000 seaters (and berm capacity of 5,000 more). Anyone know the cost of building 7-8 of these around the country? While the upfront infrastructure cost would be relatively big for a cricket league, I think the low salaries of decent international cricket players would balance it out somewhat. Cricket's weakness of being popular mostly in poor countries with low spending power can ironically help it grow (in countries like the US and China). You can build one of the top leagues/tournaments with a payroll as low as $500k per team (salaries for some of the top players in SLPL), or a decent league with few 'designated players' for under $200k per team. Cricket may not be a top draw at the gate here for a long time because most of the action take place in the middle of the field; so the low capacity of the stadiums (and lack of bells and whistles) would be fine. Its strength would likely be as a TV property. Thanks to the many ex-pat hardcore cricket fans willing to pay millions of dollars to watch the games on PPV and specialty channels, combined with the fact that some upstart sports networks need live contents and are paying rights fees for properties with relatively low ratings, I think a cricket league has a chance to get some decent TV money. Something in the neighborhood of $10 million/year (similar to MLS' deal with NBCSN), would probably make the league solvent or at least prevent the owners from hemorrhaging money. Now all we need is few investors with vision, something soccer was blessed with, who would not be afraid to take on some short term losses to grow the league/sport. Any thoughts?
Any stadium, modular or built in the field requires foundations. You cannot set modular stands like bleachers without having a foundation. That will increase the costs substantially. Secondly, the cricket field is going to cost at least $2,000,000 dollars. It will need a drainage system. You will need a parking lot. I don't see how you could build a aluminum bleacher stadium with a small electric scoreboard and fencing for less than $10,000,000 dollars.
I've done some research and found quite a few high school stadiums with bleacher seats and higher capacity were built in the last 15 years for around $5-8 mil (under $15 mil in today's money). That seems doable. If a league can average even 4500 per game 10 times a year at $15 average ticket price, gate revenues alone will pay for the stadium. The league's viability probably still depends on some TV money. If properties like Serie A, La Liga, and even MLS can get $20+ mil for relatively low ratings I don't see how a cricket league with some of the world's top players doesn't get at least half of that money, especially with all the commercial breaks the sport has. I wouldn't be surprised if Cricket Holdings America (organizers of the planned league) gets a decent deal from the new BeINsports network, who needs a lot of live contents for summer and prime-time. Again, around $10 mil a year would probably cover half of the league's operating costs while sponsorship, merchandise, and possible intl. TV revenues would cover some of the rest. They would probably still lose some money for a while but that's expected for any start-up business nowadays. Anyways, looks like they are planning to develop some cricket facilities, after all. Maybe they did find the needed investors. Here's to hoping.. http://www.insideindianabusiness.com/newsitem.asp?ID=54102
Would cricket in America really draw 4500 fans on average to ten games for an entire league? How many people came to see the New Zealand vs. uh...somebody series that was in Florida within the last couple of years?
Easily, in my opinion, if they operate in the right markets (i.e. markets with big concentration of expat cricket fans), keep the ticket prices affordable (around $10-$20 per), and does some marketing instead relying solely on word-of-mouth. Some markets may draw less than that but others like New York, San Francisco, and Florida should be able to cover for them. The structure of the league would have to be Single Entity (with some type of revenue sharing) to reduce the risk for the owners in those markets. Around 11,000 and 14,000 with virtually no marketing. That's not too bad for an exhibition series involving teams that are not very popular. The Indian national team would've sold out the stadium in few days. I expect meaningful league games with regular promotion via TV presence to draw at least 1/3rd of that consistently.
Well I stand corrected about the New Zealand match, I had no idea it was that high. I am still concerned about a league though, it was already tried and failed once already. Didn't that (admittedly highly underfunded) league not even make it through a full season?
Some big reasons for that .. 1a) The league was not just highly underfunded. It was operating at almost a semi-pro level (aside from the few aging B level stars). Everything about it was screaming minor league. 1b) The league was not recognized by the ICC and most of its members (they refused to release players to play in this league), including the USACA. 2) They didn't have a TV deal which for me was the biggest blow to the league. If a league from a new sport wants to stay alive and grow in this uncharted territory a national TV deal is a must, even if it means having to buy time on a network (MLS did it for years). As I've mentioned before, the TV situation is much better for the smaller leagues nowadays. Getting paid some rights fee (by an upstart network like NBCSN or beIN Sports) is not a far-fetched scenario anymore. 3) The league launched only a year after the formal introduction of the Twenty20 format. This short format was not accepted or nearly as popular among the cricket fans worldwide as it now. 4) They made some major rule changes to the game (i.e. an over having 5 balls instead of 6 and allowing a 'designated hitter' rule etc.) that didn't help with the purists/hardcore fans. The list goes on and on. I've never considered this as a legit attempt to bring cricket to America. This upcoming league is already looking more professional with deeper pocket investors (although not as deep as I'd like). They started a company similar to Soccer United Marketing (MLS' profitable side business) with the intent to control most of the cricket games on US soil (and their TV rights) and generate extra income that way. This company has a high-profile stakeholder in New Zealand Cricket Board who will help the league with their expertise and players/coaching. They're also planning something as bold as bringing the World Twenty20 to the US, something the previous league could never have dreamed of. CHA is doing many things rights so far and I like their chances.
I run a seating logistics company and we specialize in modular seating. We could supply 5000 seats for around 1.75 million. This is just a rough guess, but it's close(need more details). That's 5000 seats set in a circle around a field ready for fans to sit on. The remaining costs would be for the field, press box, rest rooms, concessions, locker rooms, etc, etc. The good news is we work with a company that can add all that to our current seating system. I think it can all be done for under 5 million. The best part is if it didn't work in a specific area, we could move the entire stadium to another area very easily. The asset moves with you. No fixed assets to sell for pennies on the dollar should it not work. You could even start with 2000 seats and add on no problem. We have set up as little as 150 seats to 20,000 seats. Let me know if you want to discuss further.