Global T20 Canada

For discussion of all aspects of Canadian cricket
ray
Posts: 720
Joined: Mon Feb 19, 2018 8:46 am
Location: Canada

Re: Global T20 Canada

Post by ray » Tue Jul 03, 2018 2:01 pm

^ Yes, you are right. This is further evidence that immigrants, even cricketers, are very picky about what they are willing to support. I can only guess at why this tournament, with its respectable quality of players, being played within the GTA and reasonably priced tickets does not meet that standard, but it clearly does not.

It was an understandable for the Americas boards (CC, West Indies and USA) to look to tap into North American cricket fans as a source of badly-needed revenue. Unfortunately, It shows no signs of working except on a one-off basis.

timmyj51
Posts: 335
Joined: Fri Jun 29, 2018 5:23 pm

Re: Global T20 Canada

Post by timmyj51 » Tue Jul 03, 2018 2:59 pm

And the sad thing is there's been fairly entertaining cricket from the
highlights I've seen (such a small ground helps with that). So sad, depressing and embarrassing that
the so-called "development" of this great game in North America has always been in the hands of
deplorable amateurs who don't really know what they're doing. MLB is going to stage a game in England next
year and everything about that event will be BIG TIME! Playing in the Olympic
Stadium, promoting the game to mainstream Brits, etc,...right when the
Cricket WC will be going on! And MLB says they're going to be staging a game in the UK every
year, like the NFL! Cricket in North America?? No promotion to mainstream populace,
shabby organization, small, second rate grounds....sad, sad, sad :cry: :cry: :cry:

bjl2012
Posts: 2
Joined: Tue Jul 03, 2018 8:23 pm

Re: Global T20 Canada

Post by bjl2012 » Tue Jul 03, 2018 8:58 pm

Sorry for the long post, but I had a few comments on GT20 and cricket in general in Canada.

I suppose I would fall into the "mainstream" of sports fans that cricket would be trying to attract. I have never played the game, but began watching when my daughter was a baby and the IPL matches were on Sportsnet and was hooked. I haven't seen much in the last few years as it is not available on mainstream television.

I attending the GT20 match on Friday and had a wonderful time. If anyone is in the GTA and has the opportunity to go I recommend going and seeing it, as it may be a once in a lifetime chance. When I heard that they were planning the tournament (at the beginning of June) I was very excited, but thought there was no chance a tournament could be put together this quickly so I waited to see it were actually happening before heading up on Friday. I drove 2.5 hours from Niagara to discover King City is a lot further than I thought, and that given the short planning time horizon everything was setup pretty well in my opinion. I got to see international level cricketers in person in Ontario! How often are players of this calibre here? Many things are not perfect that is for sure but I feel like many people seem to expect IPL quality in all regards when cricket is just obviously not that well developed here.

I got to see Lasith Malinga (my favourite from watching IPL) bowl David Warner in person! And I saw Warner make three catches (including two great ones). This and seeing Connor McDavid score a hat trick in the World Hockey Championships are my two sporting highlights for this year.

I do not understand why cricket is not on Sportsnet or TSN at all these days. T20 matches are a bit long, but having a game of the week during IPL, other big tournaments would not be a big imposition I would think. Especially when other international sports including Aussie Rules, NRL, cycling, endless amounts of soccer, minor tennis tournaments, etc all find a spot in the lineup. Are ATN or other speciality channels outbidding the big networks or is something else going on? I would find any opinions on this to be helpful.

Soccer has been on TSN for over 30 years and it has taken that long, along with strong expat support to get TFC and the game in general to have the support it has today among the non-expat community. And soccer has always had a much stronger grass roots participation in Canada. Remember that MLS is not really that strong a league internationally, but enough people have embraced it to be successful. I think getting regular TV spots that are supported by cricket fans would be a start to draw casual fans to the game.

Regarding the grounds, it is unfortunate that King City is the location of these and other national team matches from an attendance point of view. To get up there for 4pm (especially at the start of a long weekend) is quite a chore. But it is hard to see the alternatives. It would be wonderful to have a 5000 or so seat stadium conveniently location in the GTA that could be used for significant cricket and Aussie Rules matches but how often could it be used? Especially when no other major cities in northeastern North America have facilities that would provide the basis for a league. I understand Lamport Stadium has just been renovated for the English rugby team playing in Toronto, could a similar arrangement be made for cricket somewhere? It is tough when square fields get more use than rounds ones.

Overall I am sure that GT20 will not be considered a success. But given what they have been trying to do it seems they are doing as well as they could expect. My impression is that this is a pretty good collection of players, and that die-hard cricket fans from New York to Chicago should be interested in attending. But you cannot reasonably expect anyone to plan a trip to see an event that is organized in 5 weeks. If by some miracle it returns I will make an effort to see a match again next time, but I was not about to sit on the sidelines this time and miss out just because it had a few flaws.

ray
Posts: 720
Joined: Mon Feb 19, 2018 8:46 am
Location: Canada

Re: Global T20 Canada

Post by ray » Wed Jul 04, 2018 9:45 am

Thanks for relating your experience, BJL! Very interesting read. BTW, how did you hear about the tournament?

I would have liked to see the GT20 marketed to the "mainstream" but given the venue and going opposite the World Cup for TV times, it probably would not have made a difference. I wonder whether a half-hour highlight package could have been made available to Sportsnet (etcetera) to run weekday afternoons (instead of poker and the like). I maintain it is going to take the Olympics to make North Americans take interest in cricket but that is not happening any time soon. However, some form of TV presence would help cricket's cause.

mautan
Posts: 94
Joined: Wed Jun 20, 2018 3:22 pm

Re: Global T20 Canada

Post by mautan » Wed Jul 04, 2018 5:24 pm

timmyj51 wrote:
Tue Jul 03, 2018 2:59 pm
And the sad thing is there's been fairly entertaining cricket from the
highlights I've seen (such a small ground helps with that). So sad, depressing and embarrassing that
the so-called "development" of this great game in North America has always been in the hands of
deplorable amateurs who don't really know what they're doing. MLB is going to stage a game in England next
year and everything about that event will be BIG TIME! Playing in the Olympic
Stadium, promoting the game to mainstream Brits, etc,...right when the
Cricket WC will be going on! And MLB says they're going to be staging a game in the UK every
year, like the NFL! Cricket in North America?? No promotion to mainstream populace,
shabby organization, small, second rate grounds....sad, sad, sad :cry: :cry: :cry:
So having said all that you have time and again..what do you suggest? People should not try? Just sit and comment negatively on forums? The fact is these things can take 25 years or more sometimes to work..like soccer in US. Like MLS in Toronto. Would love to see your suggestions.

Victorian
Posts: 598
Joined: Mon Feb 19, 2018 12:33 pm

Re: Global T20 Canada

Post by Victorian » Thu Jul 05, 2018 10:41 am

A couple if things being tested.
1. The game times have been moved away from rush
hour.
2. The soccer WC is no longer everyday and also only
one game per day.

We'll see if there are any effects.

timmyj51
Posts: 335
Joined: Fri Jun 29, 2018 5:23 pm

Re: Global T20 Canada

Post by timmyj51 » Thu Jul 05, 2018 12:00 pm

mautan wrote:
Wed Jul 04, 2018 5:24 pm
timmyj51 wrote:
Tue Jul 03, 2018 2:59 pm
And the sad thing is there's been fairly entertaining cricket from the
highlights I've seen (such a small ground helps with that). So sad, depressing and embarrassing that
the so-called "development" of this great game in North America has always been in the hands of
deplorable amateurs who don't really know what they're doing. MLB is going to stage a game in England next
year and everything about that event will be BIG TIME! Playing in the Olympic
Stadium, promoting the game to mainstream Brits, etc,...right when the
Cricket WC will be going on! And MLB says they're going to be staging a game in the UK every
year, like the NFL! Cricket in North America?? No promotion to mainstream populace,
shabby organization, small, second rate grounds....sad, sad, sad :cry: :cry: :cry:
So having said all that you have time and again..what do you suggest? People should not try? Just sit and comment negatively on forums? The fact is these things can take 25 years or more sometimes to work..like soccer in US. Like MLS in Toronto. Would love to see your suggestions.


Cricket's been trying to get a foothold in North America (I'm talking about mainstream North America) waaaay longer than
25 years with not much to show for it! Unless something radically different is done I don't see things improving in another 25 years!
"My suggestion"? First and foremost organizers have to sit down and ask themselves:
do we want to organize an event that just caters to the ex-pats or one that makes a SERIOUS effort to attract mainstream North
Americans? If the later, then be it known you'll have to do things VERY different from what's been done at any past cricket matches. Will have to
solve two problems: (1) how do we get people into the stands to watch a sport they know nothing or care nothing about and
(2) if you can get them in the stands how do they follow, enjoy, a game they do not understand? Get your sports promotion/marketing
people to solve these problems and you've improved your changes hugely. To date, I haven't seen ANY organizer, north or south of the border who's shown they have
the slightest clue how to address these challenges.

ray
Posts: 720
Joined: Mon Feb 19, 2018 8:46 am
Location: Canada

Re: Global T20 Canada

Post by ray » Thu Jul 05, 2018 12:13 pm

Victorian wrote:
Thu Jul 05, 2018 10:41 am
A couple if things being tested.
1. The game times have been moved away from rush
hour.
2. The soccer WC is no longer everyday and also only
one game per day.

We'll see if there are any effects.
I think the double-headers were always intended for weekends only. I wonder whether the 11AM start is for telecasts in the sub-continent. If anything it might adversely affect the local crowd numbers.

bjl2012
Posts: 2
Joined: Tue Jul 03, 2018 8:23 pm

Re: Global T20 Canada

Post by bjl2012 » Thu Jul 05, 2018 9:46 pm

Someone asked how I heard about the event - I believe I saw an article in the Toronto Star online about the draft and how the suspended Australians were headlining. That triggered me to follow up with an internet search on espncricinfo and the tournament website.

Regarding how to cultivate a larger audience, even 10 years ago I would say get it on television and a following might start up. Today with many people cutting the cord that strategy would be much more difficult. I still don't understand why cricket has been on tv so rarely to this point. I can recall watching Aussie Rules highlights programs 30 years ago on TSN, and International Rugby Union matches have been televised for nearly as long. Maybe if T20 started 10 years earlier it would have had more of an opportunity.

There was a mention about how the NFL and MLB are making inroads in London, what has driven an increase in popularity over there? I would assume that television access would be a main driver.

Otherwise I'm not sure how to provide exposure to non-cricket fans. Soccer went through a phase where they tweaked the rules and things to try to appeal more directly to North Americans and it didn't really work. I'm sure there are marketing people that would have some ideas. If sports fans approach it with an open mind the basics of what is happening in a cricket match are not that complicated, especially in the T20 setting. I usually equate things with similar actions in baseball (bowled wicket = strikeout, six = home run, over = 6 pitches, etc) when I try to explain what I saw to people. It's all about how you get it in front of sports fans and get them to invest the couple of matches worth of time it takes to understand the basics.

LeScotsman
Posts: 28
Joined: Sat May 26, 2018 4:12 pm

Re: Global T20 Canada

Post by LeScotsman » Fri Jul 06, 2018 10:54 am

The world has moved on lightyears in 10 years. Ten years ago, televised cricket was much harder to find in North America, or even on the internet. The IPL was a baby. The whole world wasn't glued to screens in the palms of their hands every minute. To understand what's going on, it's important to understand human behaviour. 99% of people will always take the laziest, cheapest route. It's very difficult nowadays to get people to to reply to direct messages (text, voicemail, FB) or even open emails, let alone read them and take action. When people can stream live cricket on their phones for free on the toilet or in their car, or from their sofa without paying, and tune in and out while they potter around doing other things, like looking after the kids, why would they choose to spend 40$-150$ a head and lose 8 hours of their day, driving to a bleacher in the sun or anywhere else, taking more than 50 steps of action along the way? Ten years ago, there was not a large enough market to successfully stage a pro event here. Now, even less so. With screens and non-stop distraction everywhere, if you make an offer to people, their brains make a quick calculation, ''Do I have to make effort for this?'' If yes, most people choose not to. This is why it is tumbling.

Cricket has always been hard here or anywhere. In North America, it has always been a shambles and followed the very opposite path to proper development. Stumbling around now trying to make a success of it while competing for attention with youtube is very difficult. Cricket here is not in a battle to grow any more as it was 10 years ago (a battle it lost, sadly). It’s in a battle to survive.

There is no other pastime that takes so much time and effort. So much has to go into it to making one game work. Miss or slack on one important detail, and it fails. Below are just a few examples of the key pieces in staging one recreational match - hugely different from a professional tournament but I use it as an example for cricket in general. In terms of creating a successful overall system or event, there are many more requirements, too long to list here.

To play a match, you need a huge space - 4 acres of flat grassed land, with people who properly understand and can carry out good ground maintenance in order to make play safe and productive. It's a full-time job, with years of training required. There are probably only 5 people in the country who understand that. Do they have the time and money? Will they in the future? You can't play hockey in 6 inches of snow. Can you play cricket in 6 inches of grass? Will it ever work in municipal parks where they have regulations about not cutting the grass? No. Will it continue to get use of substandard municipal land in the midst of demand from every other, easier sport? No. If cricket is to survive, it needs to find a solution to that. It will only have a chance of survival on private land.

Every match requires people who can score. I've played and organised cricket and other sports for more than 30 years, in all that time, in every cricket game, 80-90% of people say they don't know how to score. Even the guys who’ve played for 50 years. Every match, it's a dog's breakfast. Teams lose games all the time that they actually won because people can't count or pay attention, or understand the system. It’s not uncommon for scorebooks to have 40 runs out of place over 500 balls. The scorer can blink (or their phones vibrate now) and you lose the game. It's so much goddamn work and confusion. People say, just use an app. Again, most people don't know how to work the thing, and they can't spot or correct mistakes on a screen as they can on paper. The battery runs out of power, etc. Is people's behaviour and knowledge towards that going to change? No. Does this complication appeal to people, or drive them away? Or is it the system that needs to change? The ICC, MCC, or any cricket board has never bothered to even put a YouTube video up explaining how scoring works. How are people supposed to do it?

Every match requires qualified, unbiased umpires without eyesight problems or hearing issues who've watched thousands of hours of televised cricket, who volunteer to stand in the sun for 8 hours having people complain to them. Or the game fails, people get pissed off. Are people rushing out to volunteer for this? Are kids super keen to learn? Would you say there are more people now who know how to do the job than 10 years ago, or less? Are people going to want to do that in 10 years? It needs an affordable technological solution. It's too much work and too problematic.

You need a meal because you're stuck in the middle of nowhere for the best part of a day. Who wants to spend their Friday nights and Saturday mornings preparing that now? People can't be bothered to boil an egg now.

Between groundstaff, umpires, scorers, and caterer (before you get to coach, captain, players and coordinators) that’s 6 people who really know what they are doing and are willing to dedicate huge amounts of their time in order to succeed (park cricket on uncut pastures with no food, shade or bathrooms, and players doing a horrible job of umpiring and scoring is not a successful system). Where do you get those people? When 99% of people won’t lift a finger? When trends are showing fewer and fewer volunteers?

Cricket matches need so much time. On weekends. Parents are working 50 hours a week to pay off their credit cards for all their digital luxuries, and weekends are family time. In 10 years, are there going to be more people volunteering to give up their weekends, or less? If cricket wants to survive, club cricket has to find a way to develop on weeknights under floodlights. It has to find ways of speeding up without compromising the volume of play for everyone. Two to four hours of every cricket game is simply time wasting. Thirty seconds delay times ten times a day times 22 players is a lot of nothing. In 10 years, are people still going to choose to waste that time?

It's the law of the jungle, adapt or die. The fanciful ideas of IPL style franchises in North America are a total waste of time and resources without any sound business foundation or evidence of success. When I see the waste of millions on this, and then I look at all the clubs in the country that don't even have a lawnmower. Why would kids and 99% of the population want to play cricket when they can't hit the ball more than 3 metres in unrolled cow pastures? When that's your starting point...

As much as I Iove the game, as much as I've put into development, in mainstream and expat cricket, in youth and senior cricket, on a voluntary and professional basis, in Canada and elsewhere, I look at the stats, I look at people's behaviour, I look at the technology and the competition, I look at the history, I ask myself, will the North American cricket system change, or will it change other people?

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