Don’t sleep on cricket
With a burgeoning South Asian population that has growing cultural influence, cricket’s place in the U.S. sports scene is just beginning.
Issue #70
Hi all —
Like most Americans right now, I admit I don’t know much about the actual game of cricket. I can name a dozen football, basketball or baseball teams but can’t really tell you the exact rules of cricket, famous cricketers or the various leagues.
Well, that’s about to change. The U.S. — beyond just Brown/British/Australian communities here — is finally waking up to cricket’s potential, and Americans can no longer sleep on cricket, as evidenced by just the last few weeks.
Here are three reasons why, I believe, cricket will take off even more in the U.S.:
The demographics: South Asians are the among the fastest-growing population with Asian Americans, who are broadly the fastest-growing racial or ethnic demographic in the U.S.
Immigrant communities who are already cricket fans are obviously going to drive the demand up as they grow. We have seen recently how games like Chinese mahjong are gaining traction as cultural staples in cities like New York. Sports like cricket could become a more widespread sighting as South Asian communities both move around the U.S. and continue to grow in existing epicenters. A 2022 Washington Post article noted how cricket was becoming more common across Texas, in particular.
I also loved this recent Washington Post story about Saurabh Netravalkar, a Bay Area-based software engineer at Oracle by day and a starter on Team USA during his off-hours.
The money: There’s untapped market opportunity.
Like many things in a capitalistic country, the conversation can’t be had without discussing what’s often at the core of pro sports: money.
A growing cricket fan base is a huge market opportunity for advertisers, athletic apparel companies, stadiums and streamers. As The New York Times previously reported, investors have already been rallying serious cash around streaming global games and hosting live matches. The recent India-Pakistan match in New York experienced record attendance.
While I can’t mention all this without reiterating that income inequality is a major factor among Asian American communities, Asians at the top are among some of the wealthiest Americans with high median incomes and disposable cash. That obviously translates to a ripe, potential market that mainstream American advertisers, South Asian diasporic brands and South Asian companies from the subcontinent still aren’t effectively reaching.
The cultural influence: We need new sports to rally around.
Pickleball’s meteoric rise is clear evidence the tides can shift over time. The Atlantic is already calling America the place of “cricket’s next frontier.”
American football still dominates the U.S. by likely every economic measure. But it also dominates our culture: A Pew study found 53% of U.S. adults said football is “America’s sport” while 27% said baseball. But wasn’t baseball once the leading national pastime? Today, I’m honestly among Americans more excited to go to a baseball game to check out a historic stadium, enjoy good food, try tasty beer and eat ice cream of the future, than watch the actual game. But while football leads, I wonder how the growing evidence of brain trauma on players might sway that in the decades to come.
Cricket may never be America’s leading sport. But as this nation continues to get a little Browner, so should our sports.
Thanks for joining the conversation,
Vignesh Ramachandran (on Signal at 773-599-3717)
Co-founder of Red, White and Brown Media
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