Latest news with #SanjayGovil
Forbes
28-06-2025
- Business
- Forbes
A Home Ground For Washington Freedom Could Ignite Cricket In Maryland
Cricket is developing in Washington DC In the words of owner Sanjay Govil, a highly successful tech entrepreneur, Major League Cricket defending champions Washington Freedom have sought an 'aggressive campaign' to become a visible part of the sports landscape in Maryland and beyond. It has seemingly done the trick so far with the fledgling American T20 competition only in its third season. Freedom games have been broadcast live at certain bars in the DC area while the team have received healthy media exposure, including regular spots on National Public Radio. Making use of being nestled in the nation's capital, Freedom also have held major events, including with the Department of State, in efforts to build strong relations among powerbrokers and also raise the profile of cricket - by some metrics the world's second most popular sport. 'We've been received very well by the community and the local media,' Govil told me in a phone interview. Washington Freedom are defending MLC champions (Photo Arjun Singh / Sportzpics for MLC) It's promising first steps, but Govil knows a permanent home ground is needed to unlock Freedom's potential. The unusual dimensions of an oval-shaped cricket ground, with a turf strip in the middle, makes it challenging for MLC franchises to find suitable infrastructure. Only Texas Super Kings have a permanent facility after repurposing a vacant baseball ground in Dallas, which has become the hub of American cricket and hosted most of the MLC games over the first two seasons. Kick-starting this ongoing tournament with a bang, the MLC was played in the west coast for the first time with San Francisco Unicorns playing its home games at the iconic Oakland Coliseum in what is currently a one-season arrangement. Plans to build a cricket stadium at George Mason University were scrapped, but Freedom's pursuit has continued with a site earmarked. Govil was tight-lipped on specific details, but there have been reports that Freedom are looking to develop in Frederick, about 45 miles north of Washington DC. Govil said he hoped government approvals would be sorted by August and that initial plans centered on a 10,000-seat multi-purpose stadium being built in time for the 2028 season. 'We really need a cricket stadium for the D.C. area, Virginia and Maryland,' Govil said. 'That's really going to grow the fan base, so they can watch us in person. There are a lot of other opportunities too.' A home ground could also lure international cricket with the U.S. men's and women's teams likely to host series ahead of the Los Angeles Olympics, cementing the country as a big ticket destination beyond traditional boundaries. 'The potential is huge. The east coast is ideally suited for the Indian market, so we want to host international cricket series,' Govil said. Along with Unicorns, Freedom are outliers without Indian Premier League investment ties but do have a partnership with Cricket New South Wales. Their international footprint has expanded after Govil secured a 50 per cent stake in Welsh Fire, a professional cricket team in the Hundred competition that has a $110 million valuation. 'Absolutely going to have a partnership (between Freedom and Fire),' Govil said. "We can offer players and coaches to be engaged in the U.S. and U.K. through the summer, essentially part of the same program as the synergies develop between the two." Glenn Maxwell is Freedom's captain (Photo by Arjun Singh/Sportzpics for MLC) As more cricket leagues emerge, while established ones like Australia's Big Bash League consider privatization, Govil looms as an intriguing figure in a traditionally staid sport undergoing rapid change and an influx of cash. He was born in Montreal before moving to India during his formative years with his parents, where he naturally developed a love for the country's favored sport. 'Growing up in India, the love of cricket was there, and even when I moved back to the U.S. I was constantly engaged in watching and playing cricket," he said. Govil's career took off when he moved to Washington D.C. and started Infinite Computer Solutions in 2001. It boasts an annual revenue of $2 billion with 20,000 employees globally while he also owns Zyter TruCare, a leading healthcare technology platform. 'Washington D.C. is obviously where I started my business. It's been a very good place for me and it's very multicultural,' Govil said. 'I couldn't have found a better way of giving something back to the community than the Washington Freedom.' Freedom - a 'unique name that everyone stands for', says Govil - are now entrenched in an underrated sports city marked by a passionate fanbase enduring plenty of heartbreak over the years by their seemingly cursed franchises. Just recently the Wizards, whose only NBA championship was as the Bullets in 1979, had the second worst record this season only to miss out on the Cooper Flagg sweepstakes and slide to No.6 in the upcoming draft. The Freedom's emergence might just change the city's sports luck. They have already brought home an elusive title having stormed to victory last season under legendary Australian Steve Smith. Those hard-bitten local sports fans needing a tonic might just want to jump on the Freedom bandwagon. Steve Smith captained Freedom to the title in 2024 (Photo by GLYN KIRK/AFP via Getty Images) ... More 'It's a very hungry sports market, with amazing fans who haven't had a lot of success," Govil said. "We have an opportunity to capture the market in the southeast of the country, which has no other teams. 'We're trying to create a movement and at the same time grow a league.'
Yahoo
12-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Keep Hundred free of England clash
Welsh Fire were valued at more than £80m, with Sanjay Govil agreeing a 50% stake [Getty Images] Keeping The Hundred free of clashes with England internationals is vital to the success of the competition, according to Welsh Fire investor Sanjay Govil. Govil, a billionaire American-Indian IT entrepreneur, has agreed to pay just over £40m for a 50% stake in the Fire. Advertisement While there would be an intention to keep a July-August window clear of international cricket, pinch points will arise because of the global calendar. That would potentially put the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) at odds with the eight investors who have pledged more than £500m to buy into the Hundred franchises. "We want to put out the best product and the best players," Govil told BBC Sport. "If they are playing Test cricket or something, we are not putting out the best product." Negotiations between investors and the ECB remain ongoing. Sales were agreed in February and an eight-week exclusivity period to complete the purchase was extended in March. None of the eight deals have yet been signed. Advertisement In a wide-ranging interview alongside Glamorgan chairman Mark Rhydderch-Roberts, Govil stated his preference for The Hundred to become a T20 competition and said there have been no discussions over aligning the branding of the Fire with Washington Freedom, the Major League Cricket Franchise he owns. Rhydderch-Roberts, whose county have entered a 50-50 partnership with Govil in the ownership of the Fire, said he was "convinced" Indian male players will eventually appear in The Hundred. On the schedule, tentative plans are in place up to the summer of 2031. Investors would want to keep The Hundred clear of internationals in order to maximise the competition's revenue and exposure – an aim shared by the ECB. Advertisement But even if the intention is to avoid schedule clashes, other factors are at play, like the availability of opponents or global tournaments. This is particularly problematic when cricket returns to the Olympics in 2028 and in 2030, when England hosts the men's T20 World Cup. In odd-numbered years, England host marquee five-Test series against Australia or India. These will continue to be held in June and July, before The Hundred. Still, this year the fifth Test against India is not scheduled to end until the day before The Hundred begins, meaning some England players will miss out. Captain Ben Stokes has already announced he will skip the entire competition. His Northern Superchargers were bought outright by the owners of Indian Premier League side Sunrisers Hyderabad. Advertisement It is likely next summer's late-season Test series against Pakistan will begin immediately after The Hundred ends. Although the ECB has sold stakes in the Hundred teams, it has retained ownership of the competition itself, meaning the governing body will have final say on any change of format. However, Govil said he and other investors have a preference to change from the 100-ball format, an outlier in terms of the global landscape, to the widely played 20-over game. "The ones I have talked to, the answer is yes. Will it happen over time? I don't know," he said. "My personal opinion, the answer is yes, but I'm a small piece in this. Cricket involves a lot of strategy. We already have Test, one-day and T20 cricket." Advertisement With negotiations to complete the sales still continuing, it could be that they are signed before this season's competition begins. "I have no doubt it will be concluded," said Govil. "When you have multiple teams, multiple sets of lawyers, negotiating with one entity, it's a very, very complicated situation. "I think we are very, very close. The ECB has done a fantastic job in terms of getting to where we are." Rhydderch-Roberts said the ECB had conceded ground in order to get the deals done. One area of negotiation has been the sale of domestic TV rights for The Hundred, which will be offered up as part of a complete package for cricket in England and Wales when the current deal with Sky expires in 2028. Advertisement Rhydderch-Roberts clarified The Hundred TV rights will be "unbundled in due course". Govil added: "The fact The Hundred is a separate set of investors now, instead of doing some kind of revenue share, it's good to have an objective view where the TV contract for The Hundred is separated out. That's my personal position." Currently India's male players are not permitted to play franchise leagues outside of the country. Female players appear in overseas leagues, including The Hundred. In order to maximise overseas media rights, the presence of India's stars is likely to be a key component. Owners of IPL franchises have had a growing influence across the globe, buying stakes in multiple franchises. Four Hundred teams are receiving investment from IPL owners. Advertisement "With the four IPL owners in The Hundred, I am absolutely convinced Indian players will be released for The Hundred in due course," said Rhydderch-Roberts. "The whole game can grow by this. I think media revenues will go ballistic. The pie is going to get a lot bigger and we intend to have a bigger share of it." Throughout the sale process, there was a perception that the Fire may have been unfashionable and would struggle to attract significant investment. Ultimately, it fetched a similar sum to Trent Rockets and Birmingham Phoenix. "In the initial round of investor meetings there were 15 that had interest in Welsh Fire," said Rhydderch-Roberts. Advertisement "We felt we have an undervalued brand, we represent a nation and we have a stadium that is ripe for much greater development. Cardiff is the event city in the UK after London. It's the concentration of sport and entertainment that makes Cardiff incredibly interesting. "Watch this space. For Glamorgan, this enables us to invest in cricket in Wales. We now have more resource to do that. "Over time, Glamorgan and Welsh Fire can become more one. "This is our chance to take this to a different level, a global level. For Glamorgan, it is transformational."
BBC News
12-06-2025
- Business
- BBC News
Keep Hundred free of England clash
Keeping The Hundred free of clashes with England internationals is vital to the success of the competition, according to Welsh Fire investor Sanjay a billionaire American-Indian IT entrepreneur, has agreed to pay just over £40m for a 50% stake in the there would be an intention to keep a July-August window clear of international cricket, pinch points will arise because of the global would potentially put the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) at odds with the eight investors who have pledged more than £500m to buy into the Hundred franchises."We want to put out the best product and the best players," Govil told BBC Sport. "If they are playing Test cricket or something, we are not putting out the best product."Negotiations between investors and the ECB remain ongoing. Sales were agreed in February and an eight-week exclusivity period to complete the purchase was extended in March. None of the eight deals have yet been a wide-ranging interview alongside Glamorgan chairman Mark Rhydderch-Roberts, Govil stated his preference for The Hundred to become a T20 competition and said there have been no discussions over aligning the branding of the Fire with Washington Freedom, the Major League Cricket Franchise he whose county have entered a 50-50 partnership with Govil in the ownership of the Fire, said he was "convinced" Indian male players will eventually appear in The the schedule, tentative plans are in place up to the summer of 2031. Investors would want to keep The Hundred clear of internationals in order to maximise the competition's revenue and exposure – an aim shared by the even if the intention is to avoid schedule clashes, other factors are at play, like the availability of opponents or global is particularly problematic when cricket returns to the Olympics in 2028 and in 2030, when England hosts the men's T20 World odd-numbered years, England host marquee five-Test series against Australia or India. These will continue to be held in June and July, before The this year the fifth Test against India is not scheduled to end until the day before The Hundred begins, meaning some England players will miss Ben Stokes has already announced he will skip the entire competition. His Northern Superchargers were bought outright by the owners of Indian Premier League side Sunrisers is likely next summer's late-season Test series against Pakistan will begin immediately after The Hundred ends. Although the ECB has sold stakes in the Hundred teams, it has retained ownership of the competition itself, meaning the governing body will have final say on any change of Govil said he and other investors have a preference to change from the 100-ball format, an outlier in terms of the global landscape, to the widely played 20-over game."The ones I have talked to, the answer is yes. Will it happen over time? I don't know," he said."My personal opinion, the answer is yes, but I'm a small piece in this. Cricket involves a lot of strategy. We already have Test, one-day and T20 cricket."With negotiations to complete the sales still continuing, it could be that they are signed before this season's competition begins."I have no doubt it will be concluded," said Govil. "When you have multiple teams, multiple sets of lawyers, negotiating with one entity, it's a very, very complicated situation. I think we are very, very close. The ECB has done a fantastic job in terms of getting to where we are."Rhydderch-Roberts said the ECB had conceded ground in order to get the deals done. One area of negotiation has been the sale of domestic TV rights for The Hundred, which will be offered up as part of a complete package for cricket in England and Wales when the current deal with Sky expires in clarified The Hundred TV rights will be "unbundled in due course".Govil added: "The fact The Hundred is a separate set of investors now, instead of doing some kind of revenue share, it's good to have an objective view where the TV contract for The Hundred is separated out. That's my personal position."Currently India's male players are not permitted to play franchise leagues outside of the country. Female players appear in overseas leagues, including The order to maximise overseas media rights, the presence of India's stars is likely to be a key component. Owners of IPL franchises have had a growing influence across the globe, buying stakes in multiple franchises. Four Hundred teams are receiving investment from IPL owners."With the four IPL owners in The Hundred, I am absolutely convinced Indian players will be released for The Hundred in due course," said Rhydderch-Roberts."The whole game can grow by this. I think media revenues will go ballistic. The pie is going to get a lot bigger and we intend to have a bigger share of it."Throughout the sale process, there was a perception that the Fire may have been unfashionable and would struggle to attract significant investment. Ultimately, it fetched a similar sum to Trent Rockets and Birmingham Phoenix."In the initial round of investor meetings there were 15 that had interest in Welsh Fire," said Rhydderch-Roberts."We felt we have an undervalued brand, we represent a nation and we have a stadium that is ripe for much greater development. Cardiff is the event city in the UK after London. It's the concentration of sport and entertainment that makes Cardiff incredibly interesting."Watch this space. For Glamorgan, this enables us to invest in cricket in Wales. We now have more resource to do that. Over time, Glamorgan and Welsh Fire can become more one. This is our chance to take this to a different level, a global level. For Glamorgan, it is transformational."
Zawya
09-06-2025
- Business
- Zawya
T20 can be US craze like yoga and Bollywood weddings
Indian-American businessman Sanjay Govil is convinced Twenty20 cricket can be the next big cultural import into the United States, following a trail blazed by yoga and Bollywood-style weddings. Previous investors have held similar dreams of breaking into the U.S. sports league market, only to be thwarted by the nation's obsession with baseball, basketball and American football. IT entrepreneur Govil, however, is confident that along with Microsoft's India-born CEO Satya Nadella and Silicon Valley's Anand Rajaraman and Venky Harinarayan he can embed the short, jazzy version of cricket deeply into the U.S. sporting landscape "T20 leagues are the future," Govil, who owns Washington Freedom, one of the six franchises in the Major League Cricket (MLC), told Reuters. "Like Yoga, like Bollywood weddings, things from India and it's crazy here. "People here just love Indian wedding. When we have weddings in hotels, people just stop and watch. It's a spectacle, right?" Although cricket originated in England, India is now its financial engine with a cash cow in named the Indian Premier League (IPL) T20 competition, which has a brand value of $12 billion. IPL franchises with deep pockets also own teams in leagues in England, South Africa, United Arab Emirates, West Indies and the United States. The U.S. featured in the first international cricket match, against Canada, in New York in 1844, but cricket remains very much a niche sport in the country. RAISED PROFILE The introduction of the MLC in 2023 and staging matches in last year's T20 World Cup have raised the game's profile. Cricket returning to Olympics after a gap of 128 years at the 2028 Los Angeles Games will be "another big impetus", said Govil, who was born in Canada but grew up in New Delhi before moving to the U.S. Govil, who also owns 50% stake in the Welsh Fire franchise of The Hundred tournament in England, said MLC franchises learned a lot from their interaction with IPL counterparts. "One of the IPL owners came to my house and he educated me on how to build a team," he said. The presence of India's marquee players in the MLC would have been the icing on the cake but Govil respects the Indian board's policy of not allowing its players to take part in leagues abroad. "I'm sure they have some logic behind why they're doing what they're doing, and I respect that," he said. "I have to succeed in the cards which are dealt to me." Govil knows that cricket in the U.S. cannot rely only on the Indian market or south Asian diasporas in order to be successful. "We want to grow domestic talent. We cannot just rely on international players," he said. "We also have to create our own market here, because we cannot just rely on Indian eyeballs watching our matches." "We are in this for a long haul," Govil added. "We are making a lot of investments. We all have to have our own stadiums. "Once we have like eight or nine stadiums, that's when you're going to really see cricket growing in the U.S."
CNA
09-06-2025
- Business
- CNA
T20 can be US craze like yoga and Bollywood weddings
Indian-American businessman Sanjay Govil is convinced Twenty20 cricket can be the next big cultural import into the United States, following a trail blazed by yoga and Bollywood-style weddings. Previous investors have held similar dreams of breaking into the U.S. sports league market, only to be thwarted by the nation's obsession with baseball, basketball and American football. IT entrepreneur Govil, however, is confident that along with Microsoft's India-born CEO Satya Nadella and Silicon Valley's Anand Rajaraman and Venky Harinarayan he can embed the short, jazzy version of cricket deeply into the U.S. sporting landscape "T20 leagues are the future," Govil, who owns Washington Freedom, one of the six franchises in the Major League Cricket (MLC), told Reuters. "Like Yoga, like Bollywood weddings, things from India and it's crazy here. "People here just love Indian wedding. When we have weddings in hotels, people just stop and watch. It's a spectacle, right?" Although cricket originated in England, India is now its financial engine with a cash cow in named the Indian Premier League (IPL) T20 competition, which has a brand value of $12 billion. IPL franchises with deep pockets also own teams in leagues in England, South Africa, United Arab Emirates, West Indies and the United States. The U.S. featured in the first international cricket match, against Canada, in New York in 1844, but cricket remains very much a niche sport in the country. RAISED PROFILE The introduction of the MLC in 2023 and staging matches in last year's T20 World Cup have raised the game's profile. Cricket returning to Olympics after a gap of 128 years at the 2028 Los Angeles Games will be "another big impetus", said Govil, who was born in Canada but grew up in New Delhi before moving to the U.S. Govil, who also owns 50 per cent stake in the Welsh Fire franchise of The Hundred tournament in England, said MLC franchises learned a lot from their interaction with IPL counterparts. "One of the IPL owners came to my house and he educated me on how to build a team," he said. The presence of India's marquee players in the MLC would have been the icing on the cake but Govil respects the Indian board's policy of not allowing its players to take part in leagues abroad. "I'm sure they have some logic behind why they're doing what they're doing, and I respect that," he said. "I have to succeed in the cards which are dealt to me." Govil knows that cricket in the U.S. cannot rely only on the Indian market or south Asian diasporas in order to be successful. "We want to grow domestic talent. We cannot just rely on international players," he said. "We also have to create our own market here, because we cannot just rely on Indian eyeballs watching our matches." "We are in this for a long haul," Govil added. "We are making a lot of investments. We all have to have our own stadiums.
