America's new ballgame – Sagar Sritharan

For a self-confessed cricket tragic and an M&A lawyer by training, Sagar Sritharan has a dream job. He is the VP of Commercial Partnerships and Legal at Major League Cricket, America’s new professional cricket league.

Building a new national sport for America

Major League Cricket was established in 2019. In just four short years – despite the pandemic – it has brought a new league, six new teams, a new stadium and a new world-class sport to the United States. Major League Cricket launched its first season on 13 July 2023, which was a phenomenal success. It attracted the world’s best players, $120 million in launch funding, and many corporate partners, sold out 70-80% of its 19-game season, and secured significant media coverage, including a front-page story in the New York Times.

Creating a premier Twenty20 competition is just one of Major League Cricket’s four main objectives. It is also building a domestic-level competition to create a talent pipeline for the sport, investing in its commercial partner USA Cricket to ensure the US national cricket teams compete at the highest levels, and building the infrastructure (including cricket stadiums) needed across the country. Without question, it’s an ambitious agenda.

Sagar joined the Major League Cricket team in April 2021 as employee #6. Beyond his general counsel responsibilities, he is also involved in negotiating and managing broadcast, partner and sponsor agreements, as well as aspects of stadium projects, business development and investor relations.

“I strongly believe there is a huge potential to grow cricket in the States. It is the second most popular sport in the world, behind football, but it has never been able to crack the world’s largest sporting market. Now, with more people from South Asia and Commonwealth countries migrating to the USA there’s a stronger base demand,” said Sagar. “Sport is a great connector of people and it brings joy to people from all walks of life. We had fans travel from all over the US to come to Dallas and see the matches. We also had mainstream US sports fans checking out the sport. They all really enjoyed the games because there was a lot of action happening with world-class players out there.”

Among the fans in the crowd was Ashurst alumni Katie Noonan and 25 of her friends who had come to support Sagar. “Having my friends there and being able to see their reaction was amazing – kudos to Katie for making that happen,” Sagar said.

Being involved in creating the new competition has been an incredible experience for Sagar. “I love cricket. It’s so exciting to be part of the team that is getting this amazing sport off the ground in the States – that’s why I want to do this. Without doubt, getting the business to this point has been my most significant career success to date,” he said. “It’s also been the most challenging.”

Overcoming the obstacles

Launching a new national sport in a market like the United States is not an undertaking for the faint-hearted. According to Sagar, perseverance is the strongest trait you need to succeed in creating significant change.

As Sagar explained: “We have had to overcome many obstacles, including convincing people to come on the journey with us. A lot of people who weren’t familiar with the game just didn’t share our vision. Others didn’t want to concede market share or their fans. That meant we had to put on a good match every time and it meant we had to ensure our commercial partners stayed comfortable in backing us. From a standing start, though, that took an enormous effort. We’ve had to build the league, the player base, the stadiums, the infrastructure, the commercial partnerships and more. At times it felt almost impossible but we persevered.” He added: “Even with the first season, we were touch and go about whether to proceed. The stadium was behind schedule and operationally we were behind the eight ball. But, even with stadium seats being screwed in the night before our first match and tickets being sold only 30 days out, we did it. People enjoyed good cricket, and that made it all worthwhile.”

At a personal level, Sagar also found the move from private practice to a start-up to be a big change. “In a law firm there’s a clear organisational structure and all the resources you need to do your job,” said Sagar. “At Major League Cricket I’ve had to take on many tasks, including becoming the de facto office manager when we first moved premises and rolling up my sleeves at the stadium the night before our first match to get everything ready. I’ve had to get comfortable with moving fast, having loose structures, and making decisions quickly. As a private practice lawyer, I was quite conservative and concerned about getting every tiny detail right. Now, I’m working fast and making big decisions within a culture that has a much higher tolerance of risk. It took a bit of getting used to but now I find I don’t sweat the small stuff and that’s actually a good thing.”

Grabbing life’s opportunities

Sagar grew up in Dubbo, a regional town in New South Wales. He moved to Canberra to study law at the Australian National University. In Canberra, he also had the opportunity to become a paralegal at Ashurst. He moved to Sydney in 2012 to undertake a clerkship with the firm, before becoming a graduate lawyer in 2014. “I really enjoyed my time with the Corporate Transactions team at Ashurst – we worked hard but had a lot of fun. Thanks to the generous guidance I received from people like Anton Harris, Sarah Dulhunty, and Andrew Kim, Ashurst really became the launchpad for my career.” During his time with the firm there were many highlights, including working on high-profile public M&A transactions (including advising Downer EDI and Crown Resorts) and handing out irreverent awards to good-humoured people, including the Australian Managing Partner, at the annual end of financial year dinner.

Sagar with Ashurst alumna, and friend, Katie Noonan

Sagar has stayed close to many people in his ANU cohort. Five years ago, he was watching many of them take on international opportunities and decided to do the same. In 2018, he made the leap to New York and joined the M&A/Private Equity team at Sidley Austin LLP. Three years later, he started thinking about moving into an in-house role that combined a focus on both law and business.

During that time, Sagar visited a friend in San Francisco and mentioned he’d been reading up about Major League Cricket’s plans and was thinking about approaching the business to see if it had any job opportunities. In one of life’s quirks of fate, Sagar’s friend knew one of the handful of employees at Major League Cricket and put Sagar in touch with the company. A few months later, he was offered his current role and moved to San Francisco.

Sagar has really enjoyed every place he has lived. He’s loving the outdoor lifestyle he has in San Francisco and has started training for the New York marathon. Since he has been in the US, he has also entered many road and trail races around the country, including a scenic 30km trail race at Bryce Canyon National Park in Utah. “It’s a great way to see the country with friends and to appreciate the diverse beauty of America’s national parks,” he said.

While he plans to stay with Major League Cricket for some time, Sagar says he feels like he is still in the infancy of his career. “So far, I’ve had some amazing opportunities and just gone with the flow. Hopefully, there’s a lot more to come,” he said. We have no doubt there will be.