Nadella, Narayen among tech CEOs investing in cricket’s American dream

Cricket may not be as popular a sport in the U.S. as elsewhere in the world, but some high-profile CEOs and investors are trying to change that.

as Men’s T20 Cricket World Cupco-hosted by the United States for the first time, is gaining momentum, and investors have pumped almost a billion dollars into their American ambitions.

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella i Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen is among the executives investing in America’s novel professional league, Major League Cricket. Other cricket investors include Iconic Ventures, Madrona Venture Group and executives Google.

“I’m excited that cricket has the potential to become a mainstream sport in the U.S.,” said Soma Somasegar, venture capitalist and managing director at Madrona.

Somasegar and Nadella are among the key owners of a Seattle cricket team called Orcas. They are also investors across the league.

“Satya [Nadella] and I’ve been talking about bringing cricket to America for many years,” Somasegar told CNBC.

Nadella is such an avid cricket fan that Microsoft has a cricket pitch on its campus in Bellevue, Washington.

“Many of us immigrants grew up playing this sport. We studied and watched cricket. Repeating that,” Somasegar said.

A total of nearly $850 million is currently being invested in building a viable cricket league in the U.S., people familiar with the funds said. The people asked to remain anonymous because funding information is private.

There are currently six professional teams in Major League Cricket, with each team expected to spend approximately $75-100 million in the coming years. This includes the costs of putting together a team, hiring the right talent and building stadiums where live cricket matches can be played.

The fanfare adds to the T20 World Cup, which takes place throughout June at three locations in the U.S. and several in the West Indies.

On Thursday, the United States team stunningly defeated Pakistan in a match played near Dallas. Fans are now counting down to Sunday’s India-Pakistan match at the newly built Nassau County Stadium in Modern York.

Last time India and Pakistan faced each other over It was watched by 300 million people in India according to The Modern York Times to watch the game.

Ticket reseller StubHub said the average ticket price for Sunday’s rivalry game is $1,300. The average price for the remaining 54 matches of the tournament is $120, the company said.

Venture capitalist Anurag Jain, co-owner of Major League Cricket’s San Francisco Unicorns, said the U.S. national team consists mostly of league players.

“The aim is to make cricket a mainstream sport,” said Satyan Gajwani, vice-president of Times Internet, the digital arm of the Times of India newspaper. He heads Willow TV, which has exclusive rights to broadcast cricket in North America, including the T20 World Cup.

Gajwani is also one of the investors of the American League. He said his group is going after extremely faithful South Asian fans living in the US

“Basically you have 5 million really passionate fans who love cricket,” Gajwani told CNBC, referring to the South Asian diaspora in the U.S.

He added that British and Australian expatriates living in the US are also substantial consumers of cricket.

South Asians on average have the highest gross income of any ethnic group in the U.S., according to research by Indiaspora, a nonprofit community of Indian leaders from around the world.

“This leaves a significant chunk of discretionary income that can be spent on sports and entertainment,” said Mr. Rangaswami, founder and chairman of Indiaspora.

Rangaswami, who said he would be at Sunday’s game, acknowledged that the U.S. sports scene is tough to navigate because Americans are preoccupied with basketball and soccer. He said a potential entry point could be fans of baseball, which bears some resemblance to cricket.

— CNBC JessicaGolden contributed to this report.