The ongoing Major League Cricket (MLC) is taking the US by storm, boosted by the presence of IPL-owned teams and surpassing expectations in terms of ticket sales and fan fervourDALLAS (TEXAS): Major League Cricket (MLC) is here in America, and it put on a spectacle at its curtain-raiser last week.
To add to the splendour, the opening ceremony featured an air show featuring a GB1 GameBird aircraft, a mid-innings drone show and fireworks to light up the night sky.
But those were mere adornments, not the centrepiece of the night.
It was a sideshow to what unfolded once cricket took the centerstage.
Cricket built its own vibe.
Incessant whistling, collective crescendos and heavy sighs built the mood.Over the course of the past five days, Dallas has taken to cricket like fish to water.
After the high of the opening night, which saw the home team Texas Super Kings register an emphatic win, attendances for non-Texas games steadied around 70%.
Such was the craze for the Monday night big-ticket clash between home boys TSK and MI New York that MLC was forced to sell standing-room tickets.
MLC has further declared a complete sell out of five out of seven games in North Carolina and the final in Dallas.It has been a long prevailing view in America that a league without the presence of current India players is predisposed to fail.
MLC has busted that myth.
A shot in the arm has been the presence of three big Indian Premier League (IPL) brands in MI, Super Kings and the Knight Riders.
For the large Indian Diaspora and cricket lovers in general, MLC takes the shape of an extension of their loyalties in the IPL.
It provided the crucial impetus the league needed at the launch, a ready fan base to cater to.
The level of fan engagement has surpassed the expectations of the teams with respect to ticket sales and in stadium merchandise sales and handouts.
TSK dispersed around 2000 whistles on their match days while MI NewYork has run out of flags and T-shirts in just three away fixtures.While the IPL franchises mobilize their massive fan bases, teams like Washington and San Francisco know they have their task cut out.
At the forefront of their priorities would be to secure a stadium for themselves, a stadium that their fans can call their home.
Washington Freedom are slightly ahead of the curve with regards to that.
Freedom are awaiting the unveiling of a dual-purpose cricket and baseball stadium in George Mason University (GMU) campus near DC, expected to be completed in 2025."It is a very well-staged tournament.
We are very pleased with not just the amount of people that showed up but also the diversity of the people that showed up.
I commend the Texas Super Kings for getting the fan engagement going.
In a short amount of time, the amount of people they had and the stuff they did for fan engagement was truly a learning experience for us.
We cannot wait to get our facility up and running at GMU.
We have our own strategies for fan engagement to work as well.
These are big brands with millions of followers worldwide.
We are relative newcomers and it's going to take us time to get to where they are.
We fully expect to take learnings from what they have done and go from there," said Sanjay Govil, owner of Washington Freedom.What has made heads turn is also the time MLC and its international superstars have for the kids.
About 60 kids of the Mustangs Cricket Academy in Dallas have been fortunate enough to meet, greet and get autographs of some of the legends of the game after every game."Their spirits remain high even at 40.5 degree centigrade of summer heat.
They love coming back every day to watch their USAheroes in action, which showcases their passion for the game," said Lovkesh Kalia, the owner of Mustangs Cricket Academy and the Dallas Mustangs Minor League Team.
"They cannot believe a tournament of this magnitude is taking place in their backyard.
The parents of the kids who have also been here have texted me saying they will cherish this moment for their lifetime."Watch live MLC action on Willow"We are here to build a product that will outlast our lifetimes and leave a legacy behind for the kids of this country," Sameer Mehta, co-founder of ACE (owners of MLC), had told this correspondent back in November 2019.After almost four years, one gets a feeling it was no lip service after all.
ACE had the choice of grabbing the low hanging fruit, making a quick buck by organizing a run-of-the mill T20 tournament at a place like Fort Lauderdale near Miami.You can book your MLC tickets hereBut they chose to go against the grain, getting their cricketing infrastructure and ecosystems in order.