New CEO Sean Cary adds to West Australian flavour at Seattle Orcas as home ground beckons

Even when he was amid a gruelling workload with the largest national sporting governing body in the United States, Sean Cary still found himself consumed by cricket.

“Cricket’s certainly in my blood and it’s a sport that I turn to just about every day on the various apps, to see which teams are going well, especially the Australian men’s and women’s teams and the Perth Scorchers,” former Western Australia quick Cary told Cricket Financial Journal.

“So it’s something that’s been in my blood forever and I had hoped that an opportunity in cricket would become available either in the US or somewhere else.”

His wish has been granted. After almost a decade in a senior executive role at the United States Tennis Association, where he notably led competition operations for the world famous US Open, Cary recently was appointed chief executive of Seattle Orcas.

“This opportunity came up and I had some really great conversations with the ownership group,” Cary said. “Loved their vision and loved what they had to say. Felt that it would be a really good fit for me.”

Cary will be tasked with trying to help build the brand of Orcas, who are the only small market side in the six-team Major League Cricket boasting franchises from the big locales of Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, Washington DC and Dallas (Texas Super Kings).

There is a growing South Asian demographic in the Pacific Northwest, largely attracted to the tech industry along with a laidback lifestyle, and that has helped ensure cricket has a core base of fans.

But Cary believes cricket can extend beyond expats with the sport fuelled by its newfound Olympic status as anticipation grows for its return at the Los Angeles Games.

“I think the fact that Major League Cricket have chosen the window in late June-July….the top US sports are not really playing anything competitively,” Cary said.

“I think there’s a significant opportunity for cricket to enter the landscape of the wider American market and grasp the minds of the wider population.

“We can share that passion and share that love to educate Americans on how great this game is.”

While clever marketing - Orcas have trumpeted themselves as ‘America’s Team’ - and an eye-catching name and green team colours have ensured a distinctive brand, the franchise’s powerbrokers know that a home cricket ground will prove a game-changer.

A site has been earmarked at King County’s Marymoor Park, around 25 kilometres from Seattle, and likely to hold about 8000-10,000 fans initially but bureaucratic hurdles have proven a stumbling block.

“It’s really important that we develop cricket from the ground up in Seattle and have a home base for the Orcas where the pathway programs run and we can provide a training facility for the domestic players,” Cary said.

“So that is of highest priority for us to have that venue where we can play home games from 2027 onwards.

“I think having the venue is just going to open up so many opportunities to invest in the team and get the locals closer and more engaged with the Orcas. It’s difficult to build a really solid fan base without fans being able to watch teams play and train in person.”

Even though still early in Orcas’ history, with MLC having only started in 2023, it’s a period of leadership transition with Cary’s former Western Australia teammate Adam Voges taking the reins as coach.

After a turbulent 2025 season, where Orcas finished fifth with just three wins from 10 matches and endured the firing of their Australian coach Matthew Mott, the highly successful Voges is hoped to build a winning culture that will result in their first title.

Having enjoyed enormous success at the helm of Western Australia and reigning Big Bash League champions Perth Scorchers, Voges has long been touted as a potential successor to Australia coach Andrew McDonald.

“He’s a very strong leader, man manager. I’m very confident that he will be able to develop an extremely strong culture and values system,” said Cary, who finished his playing days when ex-Test player Voges was making his way into the WA side in the early 2000s.

“I am confident he can help the team be a franchise that international and domestic players will want to play for. I’m very confident that the team will become a force in a very short period of time.”

The strong link with WA has strengthened with Orcas’ powerbrokers having long expressed fondness for the Western Australian cricket system. A potential high performance partnership - much like the links between Victoria and San Francisco and also New South Wales with Washington - has been previously pondered by Orcas officials.

The Orcas are owned by an investor group of current and former Microsoft executives, technology entrepreneurs in partnership with the GMR Group, co-owners of the Delhi Capitals who bought a 49% stake in Southern Brave in the Hundred.

There is likely to be natural interest over Scorchers, the BBL’s most successful franchise, who are set to move into the next phase of the BBL’s privatisation plans by testing the global market to see what prospective investors might offer.

There is lot to play out on that front, with Cary right now firmly focused on being entrenched back in cricket after his stint in tennis which took him and his family all the way to the US from Australia.

“Certainly coming to the US was a little bit foreign, but it was probably one of the better decisions, both personally and professionally, that we made as a family,” he said.

“It’s a really good opportunity to use the experience of working within the sporting landscape in the US, and using that knowledge to really help deliver the Seattle Orcas as America’s favorite cricket team.”