Why Is Cricket Not Popular In The U.s. And Canada?

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That's awesome Liz. Would be very interested to hear a lot more from the President of that Association and get more news from the inner sanctum of cricket in America.
 
The people of USA and CANADA not like a game in which they have to waste the 8 to 10 hours. Cricket is the game of 6 to 8 hours and people have to wait long time for getting the final result that's why they can not like the cricket more.
 
ShaneBro said:
The people of USA and CANADA not like a game in which they have to waste the 8 to 10 hours. Cricket is the game of 6 to 8 hours and people have to wait long time for getting the final result that's why they can not like the cricket more.
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Mate, you don't waste 8-10 hours, you engage in a sport with a massive history and cultural background. It involves intelligence, stamina, fitness, committment and very high levels of skill if you play it well.
 
The people saying about the length are absolutely correct. But with T20, this game is primed to explode in Canada and the US. There's a perfect storm brewing: 1) (2013) USA (and hopefully Toronto, too) pro T20. 2) (2014) ICC World T20 expands to 16 teams, Canada (hopefully USA too) gets in and is shown on the world stage to a wide audience a year after the pro T20 maybe opens a few eyeballs. 3) (2020) By the time T20 makes the olympics in 2020 (strangely enough) cricket could be established.
 
Cricket Canuck said:
The people saying about the length are absolutely correct. But with T20, this game is primed to explode in Canada and the US. There's a perfect storm brewing: 1) (2013) USA (and hopefully Toronto, too) pro T20. 2) (2014) ICC World T20 expands to 16 teams, Canada (hopefully USA too) gets in and is shown on the world stage to a wide audience a year after the pro T20 maybe opens a few eyeballs. 3) (2020) By the time T20 makes the olympics in 2020 (strangely enough) cricket could be established.
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Sounds promising, they might also be more open to the ideas and changes around the new ODI overs format?
 
someblokecalleddave said:
Sounds promising, they might also be more open to the ideas and changes around the new ODI overs format?
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It's possible as it makes it more like baseball, which is a proven sell here. But, I think T20 is the way to go. You don't need to get gimmicky with alternating innings, just keep T20 and have longer seasons. Major League Baseball has 162 games per season per team so they play every night. Because of the nature of the sport, any given night the best team can lose to the worst team, but they have 161 more games to make it up and the cream always rises to the top in the end. With T20 I can't see why each team couldn't play daily in the same manner.
 
Cricket Canuck said:
It's possible as it makes it more like baseball, which is a proven sell here. But, I think T20 is the way to go. You don't need to get gimmicky with alternating innings, just keep T20 and have longer seasons. Major League Baseball has 162 games per season per team so they play every night. Because of the nature of the sport, any given night the best team can lose to the worst team, but they have 161 more games to make it up and the cream always rises to the top in the end. With T20 I can't see why each team couldn't play daily in the same manner.
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Not knowing a lot about Baseball, but I'm under the impression that from a H&S point of view it's a much safer game than cricket, part of the bowlers agenda is that he roughs the batsman up - ribs, toes, hands, the whole body is a legitimate target within reason, so minor injuries occur there, but bowling and fielding all take their toll on the body and playing every day would probably have some impact on the team. But, I suppose in a pro league it may end up that proper cricket players e.g. the blokes that play for counties/states and their national team would have to make a decision to either play in either format - because they certainly couldn't play that regularly and maintain a place in the regular sides. But, we're not talking about any of the established cricket nations here, so perhaps the format you're talking of could be as you've said, be the platform from which Cricket USA launches and then they'd enter the established formats in the longer term and maybe embrace the longer formats in the medium term?
 
I suppose therein lies the problem, and the answer to this thread title for that matter. It's just a fundamentally different system. In NA our pros play established seasons and only play for country in world cups and the olympics which only happen every 4 years. In cricket it's all about touring all the time. And I'm not sure I'm too comfortable with the format by which T20 leagues seem to have to operate because of that. They're basically just tournaments where you buy your team in an auction. It's not like other NA sports or even football, where fans can establish connections not only with the club, but also with the players.
I'm not too sure about the first point, maybe, but from a fitness/stamina standpoint I'm not sure how big of an effect there is. Just look at the T20 world Qualifiers: Ireland is playing 2 matches today, even after a gruelling tournament of playing every day for the past week or so.
 
To be honest, I don't think there has been a real attempt to grow Cricket in North America before the last couple of years.

We've had our main sports, Baseball, Hockey, Football, Basketball... and also have a full complement of fringe sports to occupy our time and money... and Cricket just hasn't been an option here until recently...

I have always been interested in Cricket but growing up in Hockey mad Canada, the information was always limited... I could research the sport to death, but unless I was able to give it a try it was always going to be foreign to me and a lot of it would be misunderstood.

I am in Prince Edward Island, and have joined up on THE team... yes THE... there is only one team, so traveling around the Maritimes to play Halifax, Fredericton and St.Johns is on tap this summer...however we are hosting the Atlantic Provinces T20 Tournament this summer!! Yay!!

There is a lot of people here in North America are starting to become disenfranchised with the Main 4 Pro sports, Baseballs' Steroids issue, Hockey's concussion lack of respect to opposing players and for fans, Football, and Basketballs thug and gangsta issues... and of course the incredible greed that each sport has is making it a perfect time for Cricket to pop onto the scene and grab it's well deserved attention.

What we need to help out though... is a sports carrier to dedicate some time for viewers, we need our National teams to receive funding either from sponsors or Gov't to improve training facilities and coaching... we need our National teams to perform better in International events...

Another thing we need to have happen here... is for the attitude that it is a fad or a spectacle... if it is to grow it needs to be considered a legitimate option to share TV time, personal time with the 4 main N. American Sports

Just my opinion of course... as someone new to the sport I absolutely love it, and I cannot wait to face an opposing bowler for the first time... 25 years of baseball has ruined my cricket swing hahaha
 
Duffy33 said:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/PEI-Cricket-Club/375538377835

This is our club on Facebook for anyone interested in following a growing Cricket Club hoping to break into the consciousness of a province that is mainly Hockey and Baseball...
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Yeah I've signed up, so I'll be following you and helping to make everyone aware that cricket is happening in Canada and the USA.

Does the IPL get broadcast free to air over there?
 
someblokecalleddave said:
Yeah I've signed up, so I'll be following you and helping to make everyone aware that cricket is happening in Canada and the USA.

Does the IPL get broadcast free to air over there?
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Hey Thanks... as far as I know CTV Sportsnet will be showing it this season, so that will be a big plus... and it would be available on basic cable TV...

Cricket Canada just held their AGM and one of their plans is to get a Toronto Team involved in the future US T20 league... which again will bring Cricket to more viewers...

They are much better at updating the AGM through Twitter lol, but who isn't? so hopefully this will be updated very soon http://gocricketgocanada.com/news/article/cricket-canada-agm

Cricket Canada is pretty eager to get the game growing, so hopefully we as a Country start to support them and Canada becomes competitive on the World Stage soon...
 
Sportsnet is showing IPL... however in my timezone it will be starting around 10 am... so I will miss all but weekend games due to work lol
 
Duffy33 said:
Hey Thanks... as far as I know CTV Sportsnet will be showing it this season, so that will be a big plus... and it would be available on basic cable TV...

Cricket Canada just held their AGM and one of their plans is to get a Toronto Team involved in the future US T20 league... which again will bring Cricket to more viewers...
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Yes this needs to happen. It would be silly for it to not happen. Toronto has 2 regulation pitches, USA as an entire country has one? Plus Toronto actually has a giant population of ex-pats from cricket playing nations.
 
Great to see some perspectives of cricket fans in North America and what needs to happen for the sport to be successful in that part of the world. Keep up the great work guys.

By the way, how much cricket do you guys see on TV? Is there much coverage of series there or not much at all?
 
Ljp86 said:
Great to see some perspectives of cricket fans in North America and what needs to happen for the sport to be successful in that part of the world. Keep up the great work guys.

By the way, how much cricket do you guys see on TV? Is there much coverage of series there or not much at all?
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Not that I can find... just the odd Canada game streamed live on Sportsnet's Website... if I want to see anything I have to go

Here: http://www.crictime.com/live-cricket-streaming-6.htm

or Here: http://www.cricpass.net/

I'm a big fan of the Aussie team, and like to follow them as much as I can... Also like the South African team, mainly because of De Villiers lol

I wish Cricket Canada would update their AGM meeting notes soon... they have some good ideas and initiatives to help the sport grow here... and it's definitely worth a read...

I guess you could scrool through their twitter feed to see the short notes : https://twitter.com/#!/canadiancricket

just a couple of tweets down the list to see the notes from the first day...

I'll do my best to keep you updated from my part of the world with regards to how PEI is getting along
 
Ljp86 said:
Great to see some perspectives of cricket fans in North America and what needs to happen for the sport to be successful in that part of the world. Keep up the great work guys.

By the way, how much cricket do you guys see on TV? Is there much coverage of series there or not much at all?
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Here in Ontario we get like 60 IPL games a year which is nice. But we get nothing of our national team which is silly.

I'd really like to see this T20 league come together for the sake of our national team too. Our core is very young so they need to play as much high level cricket as they can. Nitish Kumar, Ruvindo Gunaseekera, Hiral Patel and Manny Aulakh could be great if they got in with the Toronto team.
 
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