For a long time, Bollywood has been one of India’s big cultural and commercial exports to the US. Now one of its biggest stars has decided to invest in what promises to be a bigger entertainment and business opportunity in America. Shah Rukh Khan, the co-owner of Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR) franchise in the IPL, has completed a major long-term investment in US cricket in partnership with American Cricket Enterprises (ACE).
The partnership between ACE and the KKR will include financial investments and significant expertise to help ACE develop and launch Major Cricket League in the US. The investment is being led by Khan, along with his partners in the Knight Riders franchise, Juhi Chawla and her husband Jay Mehta. Sources say the Knight Riders are also likely to own and run the Los Angeles franchise, a city that plays host to legendary clubs like the LA Lakers (basketball) and the LA Galaxy (soccer).
“For several years now, we have been expanding the Knight Riders brand globally and closely watching the potential for T20 cricket in the USA. We are convinced that Major League Cricket has all the pieces in place to execute its plans and we look forward to making our partnership an enormous success in the coming years,” Khan said.
Major League Cricket will deliver US’ first professional T20 league featuring top international players from the host country and around the world. The focus, ACE says, will be on developing a homegrown player-pool for the US and the league. The league’s inaugural season will commence in 2022.
The Kolkata Knight Riders also own Trinbago Knight Riders (TKR) in the Caribbean Premier League (CPL), a franchise it bought in 2015. Between 2008 and now, KKR have won the IPL twice (2012 & 14) and the CPL four times in six editions so far.
KKR and Red Chillies Entertainment CEO Venky Mysore said, “We have had a keen interest in the US and our expansion is consistent with our long-term strategy. We look forward to the new challenge of building cricket in the world’s most sophisticated sports & media market,” says Mysore. Vijay Srinivasan, the co-founder at ACE and Major League Cricket, said “there is a passionate following for cricket across the US”, underlining New York, New Jersey, LA, Florida, Atlanta, Texas, Chicago, the Bay Area, Seattle among the hotbeds of the sport.
“We have very granular data on the audiences, which has helped guide our plans for the key markets. Our research indicates there are 15-20 million fans with over four million regular viewers for cricket broadcasts on our partner Willow TV. This audience is complemented by over 150,000 regular players in leagues and conferences across,” Srinivasan said. “The US is now the third or fourth largest market for cricket media rights.”
