Packer men to New York

Press, 29 July 1978, Page 12

Packer men to New York

In what may be the forerunner of a series of cricket “spectaculars” tailor-made for the American market, the former England captain, Tony Greig, is taking a worldclass side to New York in September to play against a local team of American All-Stars.

Greig is one of the leading lights of the Kerry Packer cricket “revolution,” helping to launch the breakaway World Cricket Series in Australia last winter after a long and acrimonious row with the established international bodies who have run the game for more than a century. > Officially, the Nexfr York game will have no connection with the Packer organisation but it is no secret that W.S.C. sees the United States as a pos-

sible source of major revenue for its multi-million dollar “stable” of international stars.

Packer, who heads a big Australian television and publishing empire, has worked closely with American sports promoters on marketing aspects of his commercial cricket venture in Australia. United States television representatives visited Sydney last year to weigh up the possibilities of selling the game to American television aduiences. Packer’s view is that there is a world-wide “hunger” for new forms of television sport which can attract both mass audiences and lucrative advertising. Americans — whether as television viewers or as “live” spectators — are not likely to take to the traditional three or sixday cricket match because of its apparent lack of action. But W.S.C. believes that the “new” style of cricket is launched in Australia — night games under floodlights, with the emphasis on instant excitement — plus the innovations it plans to bring in this coming winter, major breaks with tradi-

tion such as team colours instead of cricketing white, could offer American television a new dimension of sporting coverage. Just how America takes to cricket will be the subject of shrewd analysis by Greig and his fellow Packer players when they take the field at Shay Stadium on Saturday, September 2. It will be an afternoon match, played on grass with each side having a limited time for batting and bowling. Greig is drawing heavily on fellow Packer players for his team: he has provisionally named such world-class stars as Dennis Lillee and Greg Chappell from Australia, the English wicket-keeper, Alan Knott, Sir Garfield Sobers from the West Indies — one of the greats of all-time cricket — as well as players from Pakistan and South Africa. The American All-Stars will be composed mainly of West Indians now living in the New York area. Last year, the All-Stars beat a team of visiting West Indian internationals in a game watched by 7700 New Yorkers. This year, the organisers are budgeting for a gate of around 15,000-20,000. William Ricketts, a chartered surveyor who is making arrangements in Britain on behalf of the New York promoters, Cricket Classics Incorporated, says: “We believe that with the big names turning out we can make a profit this time. World-class players would not be prepared to travel to America if they did not think it would be a success.”

Cricket has been played on a limited basis in America for more than 100 years but it has been confined to the immigrant enclaves — British, West Indians and Australians — rather than a sport to attract the masses. Packer will not take his players there until it has been proven that Americans have an appetite for the game; the Shay Stadium match will be an important indicator. If it takes off, the next step might be television replays for United States audiences of W.S.C. games in Australia this winter. — 0.F.N.5., Copyright.