I always wondered why the ICC makes it so dang hard to gain test status, let alone associate status. I'm glad to see the whims of the ICC's exclusivity is not a popularly held opinion on this board. I'd love to see cricket grow here in the U.S., but it hardly has much of a chance. A more inclusive T20 World Cup is probably the way to go, but its a bit of a shame that so many fringe nations are shunned the chance to develop in the longer forms of cricket. I look at rugby which has grown fairly impressively despite the power still being held by a relative few nations. It hasn't hurt that sport to be more inclusive.
For those who don't follow it, in the U.S., College Football is run by a similar money-first ideal. Their are some 120 schools that played top level D1 college football. Only about half of them have an actual shot at playing for a national title. Yes, some teams can go undefeated through a whole season and not even play for a championship. Every year, the same argument gets tossed around about how to include the little guys, and the same powers that be keep the rules heavily weighted towards, well, the powers that be. It would take a real miracle for a so-called "minnow" to break through and play for a title. Funnier yet, there are 340+ schools playing D1 College Basketball (run by the same organization, the NCAA), and every one of them has a path to the title game that can be settled on the court and not in a boardroom.