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The United States of America Cricket Association has announced a $70 million licensing rights for a Franchised T20 Professional Cricket League to a Pennsylvania-based sports development company, Global Sports Ventures, LLC, to professionalize the world’s second-most popular sport in the U.S.
The announcement was made in New York last week by Gladstone Dainty, president of USACA and Jignesh Pandya, president and CEO of Global Sports Ventures, LLC.
“We are thrilled to announce a commercial partnership with Global Sports Ventures, LLC to bring this long-adored sport stateside, and are confident in their ability to grow the sport in the United States,” Dainty said. “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,” he said, referring to the $70-million deal with Global Sports Ventures.
Through the $70 million licensing agreement, Global Sports Ventures, LLC. takes the first step in growing the sport in the U.S., which boasts the second highest viewership of cricket in the world after India – with more than 1.4 million people tuning in to view the ICC World Twenty20 competition earlier this year.
Based on the high demand of the sport, the development company is prepared to generate hundreds of millions of dollars through partnerships, significantly impacting the sports economy.
Pandya that “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 U.S. This agreement allows us to grow the world’s second most popular sport right here in our own backyard.”
The deal is expected professionalize the game of Cricket in the U.S., providing American athletes the opportunity for a professional career in Cricket.
In response to a question as to how the funds will be utilized to grow the sport, Dainty said: “Direct utilization to clinics, leagues, schools, and certainly the players because we want to give them every opportunity to be better.”
Meanwhile, a week after signing the licensing agreement, key officials from the USACA and the International Cricket Committee held a meeting in New York City to continue discussions on a revised constitution that will allow USACA to unify cricket in the United States.
In June 2015, the ICC suspended the membership of USA Cricket Association due to governance and financial concerns. USACA has since addressed these concerns, and recently completed a $70 million licensing and expansion deal with Global Sports Ventures. This investment together with the ICC continued support of the development of cricket in the U.S. assures the growth of the game in America, association officials said in a press statement after the Oct. 4 meeting.
Currently, the USACA is under administrative suspension by the ICC and has no sanctioning authority for cricket in the USA, including the ability to issue and receive no-objection certificates to and from other member boards. However, Dainty was confident that USACA’s suspension would be lifted soon, according to an ESPN report.
In a statement released on ICC’s website, David Richardson, chief executive officer of the ICC, said, “We are here to facilitate that process of building a strong foundation on which the sport can develop. Should the ICC Board consider the new constitution appropriate for the U.S. market, then we would look to USACA to adopt that as part of the fulfillment of their reinstatement conditions before full implementation of the constitution in 2017.”
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