ICC investment in USA a 'longer-term play'

The ICC has long talked about making inroads into the development of the game in the USA, and over the course of the last 12 months, that talk has begun to translate into significant action. An aggressive strategy to transform cricket in the United States, first unveiled last November in the wake of USACA's most recent suspension in 2015, has continued plowing ahead this month with the shift of the ICC Americas regional office from Toronto to Colorado Springs.

ICC staff were treated to a welcome reception in Colorado Springs at the start of the month, hosted at the stately Penrose House by the El Pomar Foundation, with a strong US Olympic Committee delegation in attendance. According to Tim Anderson, the ICC head of global development, the welcome the ICC received is a demonstration that the local sports community is serious about embracing cricket and aiding the ICC in its local development aims.

"One of the core reasons for coming here was really connecting to the significant national sports network that operates out of Colorado Springs," Anderson told ESPNcricinfo. "The USOC chief executive Scott Blackmun, Patrick Sandusky, Rick Adams and a number of their senior management were there together with several of the national governing bodies of various sports that are also based in Colorado Springs.

"We were hosted by the El Pomar Foundation - that plays a significant role in Colorado Springs society, sport and other social causes - and they were very generous in welcoming us to town. The Colorado Springs Sports Corporation was also well represented. Their CEO Tom Osborne was really the lead person in attracting ICC to Colorado Springs. I guess we made the decision based on the hope that we would be treated in the way that we have been treated, which is very very well."

With the ICC taking such a great interest in assisting US cricket, players and administrators in other Associate nations have griped privately that such assistance is unfair compared to that provided to other members. An example of this is the unveiling of the ICC's strategic plan for the USA, which set targets for the USA to qualify for the 2019 World Cup and 2020 World Twenty20.

Anderson admitted that the help given to the USA over the course of the last year may be disproportionate compared to other Associates, and also alluded to the preferential treatment given to Ireland and Afghanistan such as their place on the current 12-team ODI rankings table and a proposal to have a revised 12-team, two-division Test structure. However, he said the USA's market potential - both in terms of player talent pool and fan interest - made it imperative for the ICC to invest in the country for the long-term growth of the game, similar to what FIFA did in the early 1990s in regards to US Soccer.

"The ICC's members approved a strategy last year that was different to the previous strategy," Anderson said. "That strategy for the next few years is very strong about targeting support to meet strategic objectives around game and market development. Game development is about ultimately creating cricket systems in members whereby we can get more competitive teams on the international stage. Market development is about working with members who have potential to add significant value to the international cricket economy.

"The ICC hasn't been shy about that and we've been very open about that desire and that means countries like the USA and China that have potentially latent ability to contribute to the game's economic growth, they're being invested in in a different way. We have a significant amount of our revenue base that comes out of one marketplace, a very important marketplace which is absolutely fundamental to the game's survival, India, but if there is a significant drop in rights values in India, the whole game is going to suffer."

In order to avoid another scenario like the Big Three attempting to usurp the majority of global revenue distribution, there is now a greater sense of urgency to develop more markets beyond India where the game can be profitable. It's one reason why Anderson has worked to convince his ICC superiors and other Full Members to stay the course with committing more resources to the USA.

"Our investment portfolio, for want of a better term, is not diversified," Anderson said. "The board is aware of that and thinks that we need to have more countries that are contributing to the economy. This is a country that if it is done properly over a long period of time, rights values in this marketplace will assist all members.

"So it's a much longer-term play. It's a different investment and I think it's absolutely the right thing to do. In saying that, I can understand countries in World Cricket League Division Five or Four won't see it like that but there's a much larger strategic objective here which I think is the right thing for the sport."

Part of that market development involves staging events like the Caribbean Premier League's six-game visit to Florida next month and last November's Cricket All-Stars tour headlined by Sachin Tendulkar and Shane Warne in New York, Houston and Los Angeles. Rumors have circulated of an IPL exhibition tour sometime this summer but Anderson says he has yet to receive a formal approach from the BCCI, nor has he been contacted by Cricket All-Stars organizers about a follow-up tour this fall.

Anderson feels the key to garnering more such events is developing cricket-specific stadium infrastructure to attract premier visitors. At the moment, hosting options are limited because the USA's only ICC ODI-certified stadium is the Central Broward Regional Park in Lauderhill, Florida, which will stage the six CPL games.

"The challenge with a potentially significant fan interest in games in the USA is that we don't really have the stadia that can cater to serious cricket," Anderson said. "Not to belittle the Cricket All-Stars but that was more exhibition cricket on baseball fields and serious cricket fans probably enjoyed the opportunity but that's not real cricket, small boundaries on baseball fields. So one of the strategic challenges for the sport here if it's really going to grow is that we need more large cricket grounds that can cater to large crowds."

However, Anderson says this goal needs to be tempered with the realization that those major events alone cannot be a year-round source of revenue at such venues. Broward County officials in Florida learned that the hard way after $70 million was spent on building the CBRP, only for a handful of revenue-generating cricket events to be held there since it opened in 2008.

Similarly, the only national or international tournament held at the $6 million World Sports Park in Indianapolis since its opening in 2014 was the ICC Americas Division One Twenty20 in May 2015, leaving some locals questioning the wisdom of using taxpayer funds on a cricket field for such limited use. In that sense, Anderson hopes a critical emphasis is put on developing local community turf facilities, something exposed by the recent ICC Combine regional trials conducted around the USA. Only three of the eight trials were conducted at turf-wicket facilities and the other five took place at multi-purpose artificial fields.

"Having more options is a good thing around the country," Anderson said. "The reliance on international ICC activity isn't sustainable. It's about the development of the game in the local community. In saying that, it's not just about events. It's about training camps, combines, men, women, youth. We've just been around the country with a round of combines and there aren't enough facilities there for domestic combines. It has to be a balancing act."