'We Know The Power Of Cricket'

'Cricket as a pathway in the US was not something people thought about 10 years ago, even like five years ago.'
'But now that there is a pathway you can see.'

David White, General Manager of the San Francisco Unicorns, was a happy Aussie when he spoke to Rediff.com US Contributor Abhijit J Masih after the Bay Area team registered an emphatic win in the first match of the second edition of Major League Cricket USA which kicked off on July 5.

White is a seasoned sports professional with extensive experience in cricket and hockey.

In the past, he worked with Cricket Australia, managing domestic and international programs, including women's cricket.

He has also played high-level cricket in Australia until age 20, though his dream of donning the baggy green was cut short by injury and moving to the US for college.

"You've got World Cup 2026 and the LA Olympics in 2028. So you're looking at getting some really key pillar moments in the next three to four years for USA cricket," says White.

Congratulations for winning the inaugural match against the Los Angeles Knight Riders.

Thank you. It's a good win and a nice way to kick start the tournament.

These tournaments are so short and so quick that if you get off to a bad start, it can be sometimes hard to catch up. So being one out of one gives us a bit of a good start.

What are your thoughts on the second edition of Major League Cricket?

I think it's going to be a close tournament. The reality is every one of the teams is a quality team.

I say this, having worked in Australian cricket for a long time and around the Big Bash.

I honestly believe that our teams will compete if not beat up most of the Big Bash teams.

What made you move from Victoria to San Francisco?

I've worked in cricket/sport for a long time. I've worked at Cricket Australia back in 2010 to 2015 across a multitude of roles.

So from internationals down to domestic and loved my time there and probably never thought I'd leave Cricket Australia because I love cricket. But ultimately, after five years decided I need to go get more commercial acumen and so moved across to Hockey Australia as one of the general managers at a pretty young age.

I stayed on as a selector in the women's programme at Cricket Australia. Belinda Clark contacted me asking if I wanted to be a selector in the women's programme.

Then out of nowhere I got a call from Nick Cummins, CEO of Cricket Victoria, to join as the GM of community cricket.

I didn't think that Cricket Victoria and the Unicorns would do a partnership and as part of that partnership, the conversation was that the Unicorns needed a full time General Manager on the ground running their business and thought I was the guy for that.

I'm sure you played cricket as well.

Yeah, I did. I played from the age of six to 20. I actually retired at the ripe age of 20.

I moved to the US and I went to college in Boston at the University of Massachusetts.

I had a couple of injuries and it was like okay, I'm not going to play for Cricket Australia, so I may as well go figure out how I could work.

That was the end of my cricketing career nice and early, but I played high quality premier cricket up until that age and loved it.

What's the vision for San Francisco Unicorns? Both in the short term and the long term?

It's a good question. I guess short term it's going to be difficult to do a lot of things we want to do long term until we build the stadium.

So the short term focus right now is to obviously make sure our team is financially feasible. That's a strong focus on commercial and sponsorship.

Second, we want to start building a fan base. We did something like the family day.

We were the only team this year to do a home based family day, most of the other teams flew straight into Dallas.

We decided, let's fly our players into San Francisco, spend a week there, engaged in local community, do a training camp and engage our sponsors.

So that was a decision we made, costs we incurred to ensure we start to build a fan base in the Bay Area. And then obviously, we just want to have a successful season on the field. Because we know that helps build a fan base as well.

In the long term, the stadium is a big piece. We're progressing on those early conversations and really keen to get our stadium as soon as feasible and possible, because we know, that'll be the catalyst of further growth once we can start playing games in the Bay Area.

And can you share some insights into the process of building the team? What qualities do you look for in players?

I leave a lot of the selection of the teams up to the coaching staff.

What I say a number of times it's the quality of the person as much as anything.

We want to be a very cohesive group, we want to have a fun group.

We want guys that can express themselves on and off the field. We've probably got a younger list profile than others as well.

We decided to build something long term. So you'll notice that we've got quite a few younger guys in our team because we want them to come in long term.

So as much as anything, it's about the quality of the person that we work for.

And what are some of the biggest challenges you face as general manager for a cricket team in the US?

It's an easy one to answer. It's awareness. Obviously, you and I are cricket fans. We know cricket. We know the power of cricket around the world.

We know how economical it can be in the right settings. It is to give people that awareness.

To grow that awareness for sponsors, growing that awareness for new fans outside of the South Asian market is the biggest challenge.

What I'll say the difference probably between us and the MLS (Major League Soccer) -- and I'll say this openly -- is that we have the best quality players from the start.

We've got quality world class players from day one. We've got Pat Cummings in our team who's arguably one of the best players in the world at the moment.

Jake Fraser McGurk who took the IPL apart but also have guys like Corey Anderson and Liam Plunkett who are just recognisable brands from their times playing international cricket.

So we've got these guys on our list and you expand that across the other five teams, there's quality across the board.

You have Steve Smith and Glenn Maxwell playing for Washington and every team has international stars.

That just speaks volumes for MLC and what people think or know this league can be in the coming years.

You think the ICC T20 World Cup being hosted partly in the US did something towards spreading the awareness?

Yeah, definitely. It never hurts; it's a catalyst for growth. It's not the only thing that will help us.

It's not a flash in the pan moment, but it can be if you don't utilise it.

I think having that prior to our season definitely added to the awareness of the sport.

Obviously, the USA beating Pakistan as well helps with that. And the USA qualifying for the second round of the play-offs and also now qualifying for the next World Cup also gives us a nice window where cricket can have a good level of relevance here in the USA.

You've got World Cup 2026 and the LA Olympics in 2028. So you're looking at getting some really key pillar moments in the next three to four years for USA cricket.

You add to that a fully fledged out league with quality players and hopefully new stadiums, a really attentive fan base across the USA, there's everything's pointing upwards and suggests that we can have a very successful league if we get things right over the next four to five years.

Do you have any favorite moments since taking on your role at the Unicorns?

I said to one of the owners just as the first game started: 'We've done everything we can do. Now it's over to the team.'

We've got the sponsors; we've marketed our team, which will build a fan base.

Our brand looks great, our jersey looks great. We've done everything we can control.

It's been six or seven really hard months of work from me and my team to get us to that point. So to be able to take a breath, even for just a moment last night and go, yeah, we've done pretty cool.

It was a very proud moment for me. And then obviously having the win, which is sort of the cherry on top.

Fingers crossed; there are better moments to come.

What advice would you give to young aspiring cricketers in the US?

Stick with it. I think cricket as a pathway in the US was not something people thought about 10 years ago, even like five years ago. But now that there is a pathway you can see.

There's a USA team that has been successful on the field. They're going to be involved in the World Cup and the Olympics.

There's a fully fleshed out league now that you can make money out of as a player.

I can talk about the Unicorns here. We will work with the Northern California Cricket Association to build a clear pathway and better association and better facilities within the Bay Area and Northern California. So stick with it.

Hopefully we'll have better facilities and they'll be able to come watch professional cricket in the Bay Area in years to come.

It's going to be pretty cool, that'll probably be the moment for me that first game in our stadium. And whenever that occurs is going to be a very, very proud moment for me, my owners and our company.

Feature Presentation: Rajesh Alva/Rediff.com