
The World Wide Leader just got a little world wider this week, as ESPN has announced three-year deals with the Champions League Twenty20 and the International Cricket Council, which will include the 2015 ICC Cricket World Cup. Now before you run out into the street and flip your neighbor’s car over with joy, the deal is only for ESPN3.com, but hey – who the hell is complaining? We’ve got cricket in America! Huzzah, ESPN!
“It’s a big day for cricket fans in the U.S., and we’re thrilled to be the network offering this passionate and underserved audience more cricket coverage than ever before,” said Damon Phillips, Vice President, ESPN3.com in a statement. “We’re removing the traditional pay per view barrier and making these world class events available to millions of fans.” (Via Sports Newser)
Growing up in a middle class family in a predominantly white neighborhood of a Ft. Lauderdale, Florida suburb, all I know is cricket. This sh*t is in my blood, man. So to call this “big” news is like being hit by a beamer while the anchor just stands there. It just hurts, Damon Phillips. This is the biggest news of my life.
I can’t wait to throw my first cricket party and invite all of my cricket-loving friends, especially all the kids down at the Boys and Girls Club. They’ve never known the joy of watching a perfect Yorker strike the bat hole, or when a leg spin bowler delivers an unhittable flipper. I’m getting chills just thinking about it.


I’m happy for all seven of you who are affected by this story.
Cric… ket?
Surely they can preempt some of the continuing Sports Centers repeats to show some Cricket!
“…when a leg spin bowler delivers an unhittable flipper.”
Do you tip her an extra $20 for that?
this comes as no surprise: they fucking have the WNBA too.
Any sport that can inspire such an iconic look of madness is all right by me.
Thank goodness all fifteen cricket fans in the US finally have a way to watch their favorite sport on their nursing home TVs.
“strike the bat hole”
Hoo boy……
WTF? Cricket but not Rugby? For shame, ESPN! For shame!
Cricket but no motorcycle racing? No World Superbike? No MotoGP racing? Surely these 2 motorcycle racing series will draw in more viewers than fucking cricket. Hell as it stands ESPN wont even give 10 seconds every 2 or 3 weeks to acknowledge the winner of the race. But we need 5 fucking hours of NASCAR before and after a race? Fucking bullshit.
Jesus dude, you really like bikes… I don’t. Nope, don’t give a shit about them. They are loud and have half the wheel power of a normal vehicle. Which… if my calculations are correct, roughly 1/17th the Nad power.
Can’t wait for the first LBW call.
YES!! I’m almost as excited about this as I am about Yuvraj Singh’s Four Runs in the 48th Over to beat the Aussies by Five Wickets and of the Cup earlier today!! What a brilliant display, amirite??
/crickets
“…this passionate and underserved audience …”
Spell check didn’t catch that extra R in “undeserved”. It was probably lulled to sleep by watching cricket.
Believe it or not, US has been the 2nd highest rights fee paying country in the world when it comes to cricket world cups and for a good reason. We have close to 15 mil cricket fans here in America but the sport has been growing VERY slowly, thanks to the pay-per-view model where no one but the hardcore fans got to watch it. This deal should help cricket grow much faster from here on.
It’s an amazing game really if you understand all the rules and strategies. If you love baseball you are likely to at least *like* cricket once you watch some high level cricket games, especialy the world cup, and get an understanding of the game.
P.S. It says multi-platform deal which I think also means TV? I can see many of the T20 world cup games being on ESPN2 because most of them will be on between 5 AM and 11 AM. They’ll likely get better ratings with those than the filler programs they usually have on during that period.
I just saw “Lagaan”, and this news has me pumped!