FSU faculty member recently attended the College Sport Research Institute (CSRI) conference

Mar 26, 2025 12:00 AM

Dr. Martin Barrett recently attended the College Sport Research Institute (CSRI) conference in Columbia, South Carolina to present his work on the future growth of college cricket in the United States.

To project future growth, a baseline of college cricket activity was established. After scouring hundreds of university websites and social media posts, a baseline of 106 active college cricket clubs was established. The heat map below plots these college cricket clubs, which includes concentrated clusters of clubs around major metropolitan areas including Boston, New York, DC, Chicago, and Los Angeles.

Map showomg growth of college cricket in the United States.

Cricket is a fast-growing sport in the United States. For instance, participation data suggests there are more active cricketers in the United States than there are in New Zealand, which as a country has a rich cricket culture. In addition, a new governing body for the sport at the collegiate level – the Collegiate Cricket League – has emerged with a vision to elevate cricket to the varsity level. Ultimately, this “perfect storm” of market demand and supply has positioned college cricket for future growth. Ultimately, Dr. Barrett’s research at the CSRI conference suggested that even a steady increase of international students over the next decade could be close to 100 college cricket clubs competing intercollegiately, which is more than some established NCAA sports such as gymnastics. This is an area of research that Dr. Barrett is continuing to pursue with projects in the pipeline focusing on the purpose of existing college cricket clubs, the cultural value and utility of cricket to college students, as well as the importance of cricket involvement in the college choice factors of international students..

Dr. Barrett is pictured here with co-presenter and former FSU faculty colleague Dr. Jeff Farr (now at the University of Alabama).