If you want to stump friends at your local bar or strangers at a cocktail or dinner party this weekend, ask them if they know what the second most popular sport in the world is.
They will guess soccer, basketball, or tennis, but they will be wrong. The answer is cricket, with 2-3 billion hardcore fans worldwide.
And the sport is coming to the United States and gaining popularity by the day here.
There is an official league, Major League Cricket, and it just closed a $44 million Series A and A1 funding round to go along with the $76 million they previously raised.
The league will begin playing matches in 2023, and it has a high-powered and successful #1 fan; Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella. The investment money is going towards building stadiums across the US and training centers, with a crown jewel stadium going up in the Los Angeles area.
The media rights have already been secured and are currently owned by Disney through their acquisition of Star India. The rights are worth $2.6 million, and the new media deal is expected to surpass $6 billion.
Spearheading the LA team is Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan, and it will be built in Irvine, 40 miles south of Los Angeles.
The post Watch Your Friends Squirm. Ask Them If They Know What The Second-Most Popular Sport In The World Is. appeared first on VTPost.com.
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