Soma Somasegar kept hearing the same sentiment in Dallas during the opening weekend of the inaugural season of Major League Cricket (MLC) in July.
“I met over a half dozen people that I never met before in my life who said uniformly the same thing: ‘Hey, I’ve been dreaming of this moment for the last 20 years, 30 years, 40 years,' depending on who you’re talking to,” Somasegar said. “There are people who’ve come to the U.S. and haven’t had a chance to watch live.”
Somasegar, managing director at Seattle-based Madrona Venture Group, is a co-owner of the Seattle Orcas, one of six teams in the nascent league. He is a major driver behind bringing the sport to the U.S.
The Orcas made it to the finals this year before falling to New York. Now, Somasegar and other co-owners are trying to build off the momentum of the MLC’s first season and nuture a national following for the sport that has 2.5 billion fans globally. Other Orcas co-owners include Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, Icertis co-founder and CEO Samir Bodas, GreatPoint Ventures Managing Partner Ashok Krishnamurthi and former Microsoft and Avalara executive Sanjay Parthasarathy.
The league held games this year in the Dallas area and Morrisville, North Carolina, but the team is working to build a 20-acre cricket venue in Marymoor Park in Redmond that could hold up to 6,000 people and open for the 2025 season.
The Business Journal spoke with Somasegar about his hopes for cricket, the Seattle market and his own playing days.
About Soma Somasegar
Managing director at Madrona Venture Group
- Age: 57
- Hometown: Pondicherry, India
- Residence: Medina
- Education: Bachelor's in engineering from the College of Engineering, Guindy; master's in computer engineering from Louisiana State University
- Interests outside of work: Sports, empowering and educating women around the world (he and his wife support several causes)
Day in the Life
Soma starts at 9 a.m. and often works past midnight. His days include:
- Several hours of meeting with entrepreneurs talking about ideas, products and companies
- Board meetings and regular meetings with existing founders
- Lunch with his wife if at home, or in the office with the team
- Interviews with executive hires for existing companies
- Working with other investors and team members at Madrona on due diligence for new companies, analysis of current portfolio companies, new investment areas and broader management of the firm
How is the effort going to build a cricket stadium in Redmond?
We are in the final stages of getting all the paperwork done with the county and the city. Once we get through that, then we can start with applying for permits and getting the designs done.
Why do you think there is an appetite to support cricket in the Seattle area?
It starts with the diaspora community. ... Those people all grew up with cricket in their home country. Their passion for cricket is amazing. Today, we have about 250 to 300 cricket teams in Seattle. Amateur teams. Lots of clubs, and they all play each other at club tournaments. If you go to any of the parks here or Stanley Park in Vancouver on any weekend, chances are you’ll find one or more teams playing cricket.
Do you think cricket can really catch on in the U.S.?
The U.S. is the world’s largest media market for sports. The U.S. has shown they are willing to embrace sports from around the world. Soccer being the latest example I can give you. We feel like all these things are coming together.
How did you first get involved in this?
It started a little over five years ago. I heard there were a couple of guys starting to think about how to put together a major league in the U.S. Satya and I decided to invest in that because we are both passionate about cricket. We said someday this is going to translate into a team for Seattle. At that point, we didn’t know if it would be two years or five years or 10 years. Who knew? But we wanted to be there right from day one.
How did the Covid-19 pandemic affect your plans?
Because of Covid, things slipped up a little bit in terms of when the major league came into existence. What we did during this time period was use this time to lay down more of the building blocks. There are two specific things we did. One is we set up cricket academies around the country. …The second thing is we set up the minor league. There are 26 teams from around the country that are part of the minor league.
What else made this the right time to launch a cricket league?
When the (shortened) T20 format took root about 13 years ago, we all said this format sounded exciting. It’s something we should look at. The following four or five years, when we saw how popular it had become in different parts of the world, we said we now have something that we can really, tangibly try to bring to this country.
What are your long-term goals for cricket in the U.S.?
My dream and hope is that cricket is a mainstream sport in the U.S. ... If you go to a game today, you’ll see mostly people from cricket-loving countries coming to the game. We’re also starting to see local people showing interest and saying, “I want to learn this. Can I come to a game?” The next thing is, “Can I bring my kids to the game and can I bring my family to the game?”
Do you play cricket?
I’m not a great player. I’ll be the first to tell you. I used to play when I was in middle school and high school. During college, I didn’t play, but after I joined Microsoft, we used to have in the early days of Microsoft a cricket club. I played a couple of games there as part of that.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
