Knight Riders group invests in American cricket's future, likely to own Los Angeles franchise

Taking yet another step towards making the Knight Riders franchise a global brand, the Shah Rukh Khan-co-owned group has decided to invest in American cricket. The Knight Riders have completed a major long-term investment in US cricket in partnership with American Cricket Enterprises (ACE). The Knight Riders group will be one of the key investors in USA’s Major League Cricket (MLC), a franchise-based T20 tournament that’s expected to begin in 2022.

Apart from owing a team in the tournament, Knight Riders will also help ACE develop and launch the competition in the US. According to report, Shah Rukh Khan along with his partners in the Knight Riders franchise Juhi Chawla and her husband Jay Mehta is leading the investment. According to TOI, the Knight Riders are likely to own and run the Los Angeles franchise, a city that plays host to legendary clubs like the LA Lakers (basketball) and the LA Galaxy (soccer).

“For several years now, we have been expanding the Knight Riders brand globally and closely watching the potential for T20 cricket in the US. We are convinced that Major League Cricket has all the pieces in place to execute its plans and we look forward to making our partnership an enormous success in the coming years,” Khan said in a statement.

The Knight Riders are not new to investing in overseas leagues. After buying Kolkata Knight Riders in the Indian Premier League (IPL), they had acquired Trinbago Knight Riders in the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) in 2015. Both the teams have been successful in their respective tournaments so far. The Kolkata-based outfit has won the IPL twice while the Trinidad-based outfit has won the CPL four times in six editions so far.

‘We have had a keen interest in the US’

Speaking about the new venture, KKR and Red Chillies Entertainment CEO Venky Mysore said that the franchise had a keen interest in US. He said that the group is keen to help cricket grow in world’s most ‘sophisticated sports and media market’

“We have had a keen interest in the US and our expansion is consistent with our long-term strategy. We look forward to the new challenge of building cricket in the world’s most sophisticated sports & media market,” said Mysore.