Twenty 20 Blog

The United States wants to create an elite Twenty20 cricket tournament along the lines of the lucrative Indian Premier League.

The USA Cricket Association hopes “top-class international cricket” will finally take root in the country by launching the first professional competition, the USA Premier League.

The first steps were taken Thursday by inviting proposals from potential organizers, sponsors and broadcasters in a country where American football and baseball are the main sports.

Rushmans, an international sports event management company based in England, has been appointed as commercial adviser.

The USACA said it wants them to unlock the sport’s potential in a “massive market” and use the revenues from the new league to help spread cricket across the U.S. and form a competitive international team.

“The commercial potential of cricket in the United States is widely recognized and that was underscored by the number of approaches USACA has received from many significant and prestigious organizations ranging from broadcasters to promoters and sports marketing companies,” commercial adviser Nigel Rushman said.

“This process will enable us to consider all the proposals on the table and select the ideas and form the partnerships which are most beneficial to USACA, to the development of cricket in the USA and to the partners themselves.”

Organizers hope to build on the existing passion for cricket in ex-patriot communities from the Caribbean, the Asian subcontinent and other traditional cricket playing nations like England.

Rushman said the United States is the world’s second biggest internet cricket market, with the 2007 World Cup attracting 1.15 billion hits, just behind India.

The IPL has taken cricket-mad India by storm and attracted top players from around the world, although the second edition of the six-week competition was moved to South Africa in April after organizers failed to obtain security clearance.

The IPL’s city franchises offers big paycheques to attract big-name Indian and foreign stars, paying England duo Kevin Pietersen and Andrew Flintoff record salaries of US$1.55 million each at the last player auction.

“Cricket is a truly global sport which has been liberated by developments in the media. The success of the IPL in South Africa is evidence of that,” Rushman said.

“We are confident that, with the right partners, the USA can host a world class Premier League which will fill grounds and attract massive television and online audiences. That is good news for the future of the sport in the USA and the growth of cricket worldwide.”

Potential partners, corporate sponsors, strategy experts, broadcasters and merchandise retailers must make formal proposals by Aug. 7.

Source