Old face, new venture

Gary Hopkins, the former chief executive officer of Project USA, has announced the formation of a new agency, Cricket Partners USA (CPUSA), to help the sport to achieve commercial success in north America.

CPUSA will offer event, sponsorship, television, consulting and marketing expertise, and will look to work with all parties to maximise the growing potential of cricket in the USA. Project USA was the ICC initiative which was scrapped last month after serious concerns were raised about the way the USA Cricket Association was being run.

"While the original Project USA programme was cancelled due to the political uncertainty surrounding cricket in the States it should not detract from the fact that the USA offers an exciting new frontier for the sport and one that Cricket Partners USA is uniquely positioned to deliver," said Hopkins. "Quite clearly these are difficult political times for cricket in the USA, but underneath all of this is a sport full of committed players, dedicated volunteers and a loyal passionate fan-base that thinks nothing of staying up all night to watch their favourite teams play. It is this passion that convinces me every day that cricket has a future in the US.

"After eight months of working for the ICC on analysing the commercial feasibility for staging international cricket in the US, I am absolutely convinced this market can become an outstanding new frontier for the cricket world to discover. It just needs to be given a chance to show what it can do! I have seen it happen in soccer and I predict that US cricket fans will 'blow the roof off ' stadiums once we get the world's best teams on American soil."

And Hopkins concluded: "I hope to bring my past experience and success to bear in providing a professional, experienced and inclusive approach to developing cricket in the USA, and in doing so provide long-term sustainable financial rewards for the sport and our partners. I have a very clear picture of where cricket can go commerciallly in the USA, and will look to work with all parties including the ICC, the full-member nations, television and commercial partners - and, of course, everyone in US cricket."