Knight Riders invest in launch of US Major League Cricket

The owners of the Kolkata Knight Riders Indian Premier League franchise will become stakeholders in a new professional league in the United States.

The Knight Riders Group, which is majority- owned by Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan, has already invested in other teams, such as the Trinbago Knight Riders five years ago, but it is the first time it has invested in a league, which will launch in 2022. “The big question is how does T20 cricket become mainstream in the US? I think there’s a huge opportunity to do that,” said Venky Mysore, chief executive of Kolkata Knight Riders.

“Over time, T20 will capture the imagination of the American market. It might take 10 years and a lot of hard work. But in 10 years, T20 could potentially become a mainstream sport in the US. With that, it has the potential to go anywhere.”

The Knight Riders Group will work with American Cricket Enterprises on running the league, which will initially feature six teams around the country.

Vijay Srinivasan, of American Cricket Enterprises, which will run Major League Cricket, believes the competition will prove sustainable. He pointed to the four million subscribers in the US for Willow TV, which broadcasts cricket in the country, as evidence of the fanbase.

Major League Cricket plans to allow around five overseas players per side to complement local players. “There are seven to 10 million affluent cricket-loving diaspora who can support the league,” Mysore said. “I can see this breaking even very quickly – conservatively, in three to five years.”

The Daily Telegraph revealed earlier this year that the US had made a joint bid with West Indies to co-host the Twenty20 World Cup during the 2023- 31 cycle of International Cricket Council events. The US also has ambitions to become a Full Member of the ICC by 2030, with the focus on T20 rather than the longer formats.