INDIANAPOLIS: United States of America Cricket Association (USACA) President Gladstone Dainty and Philadelphia- based real estate businessman Global Sports Ventures (GSV) President and Chief Executive Jignesh (Jay) Pandya announced a multi-year multi-million dollar partnership professional cricket league. It was announced in New York City recently.
This partnership will boost the sport of cricket in United States of America after a few deals that did not work before; fund the grassroots - local coaches umpires leagues academies and school system and pay them through cascade funding programs instead of beefy membership dues; make USA join the elite list of few members of ICC to have executed such a professional league and will polarize the milk and water of cricketers, isolate social, recreational & for fun cricket from professional cricket and make them full time professionals.
Gladstone Dainty said "This deal with Global Sports Ventures is exciting for the players in the sense that now this deal allows us to make our players full time cricketers.
Cricket in the United States because of viewership and interest in immigration pattern etc is going through the process of the commercialization and with that type of incentive I am sure that we will reach the top so the players can look forward male and females to professional contracts."
He added "This multi-year, multi-million-dollar licensing agreement will change the way the sport is played, followed, watched and administered, and we're excited to provide for the first time ever annual contracts to our players - both male and female."
Jignesh (Jay) Pandya, President and CEO of Global Sports Ventures, LLC said "We are very happy and committed to growing and supporting the development of cricket in united states.We are putting 70M dollars towards this is the first step in growing the sport in US.
A 70M dollar deal that will change the face of cricket and make it professional like a sport needs to be played in the biggest sports economy of the world which is United States.This gives an opportunity from playing international matches but also from the grass root level.We all have the same call USACA, ICC or any other cricketing body throughout the world is develop and support the game of cricket which we love.It will be a dream come true to grow the sport organically here.
We believe there is a great great opportunity as well."
He added "The professional sports landscape is a notoriously tough market to break into, but we're confident in the strength of the consumer demand in the US."
In another press release he said "With the ICC's continuous support and parallel mission to grow cricket in the United States, American athletes will immediately have an opportunity to compete on a national and international level. This licensing agreement allows us to help grow the world's second most popular sport right here in our own backyard."
The Executive Committee of Cricket Michigan congratulated the USACA President Gladstone Dainty and the USACA Board of Directors for bringing a professional T20 cricket to USA with a Multi-million dollar deal and agreement between the USA Cricket Association (USACA) and global Sports Ventures (GSV), according to former Cricket Michigan president Madhuru R Konduru.
Cricket was a popular American sport before the Civil War, with rules that were formalized by the Founding Father of the United States, Benjamin Franklin in 1754.The first President of USA, Sir George Washington played cricket in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, in 1778. The first international competition in any sport was actually a cricket match between the U.S. and Canada. T20 is a popular short form of cricket in which the teams are limited to a single innings each. A typical game lasts about three hours, bringing it in line with most other professional team sports. Given the high demand for cricket, Global Sports Ventures expects to generate hundreds of millions of dollars through partnerships that would have a significant impact on the U.S. sports economy.