The cheapest Pakistan vs India ticket on the reseller website StubHub was $693, and the most expensive was $3,236. While America is not a cricketing country, a private suite for the World Cup final costs $12,488 per ticket, which is still less than the astounding $104,062 per ticket which comes under Zone Worrell Weeks Wolcott Premium.

With a capacity of roughly 6,000 seats, ticketing is big business for the world cup, but it’s just a part of the pie that consists of media rights, sponsors, event hosting, merchandising and tickets.

The Indian diaspora is the US has played a major role in introducing cricket to the country on a grand scale. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella and Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen are among the executives investing nearly $1bn in the new US professional league, Major League Cricket. The six teams in the US are expected to spend roughly $75m-$100m over the coming years, which includes building stadiums.

Perhaps Pakistan’s shameful defeat against the US (Al Jazeera ranked it as the biggest upset in T20 World Cup history) sets the ground for America to become a cricket giant in its own right.

Published in Dawn, The Business and Finance Weekly, June 10th, 2024