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Major League Cricket

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For the former cricket promoter, see Major League Cricket (defunct).

Major League Cricket
Upcoming season or competition:
Current sports event 2023
File:Major League Cricket.png
SportCricket
FoundedJanuary 2019; 5 years ago (January 2019)
First season2023
Owner(s)American Cricket Enterprises
No. of teams6
CountryUnited States
Related
competitions		Minor League Cricket
Official websitemajorleaguecricket.com

Major League Cricket (MLC) is an upcoming professional Twenty20 cricket league in the United States. Operated by American Cricket Enterprises (ACE) and sanctioned by USA Cricket, it plans to begin play on July 13, 2023, with six teams in major U.S. cities under a single-entity model. The first season is set to take place over three weeks at Grand Prairie Stadium in Grand Prairie, Texas, near Dallas, concluding on July 30, 2023.[1][2] In 2021, the development league for MLC, Minor League Cricket (MiLC), completed its inaugural season, which was contested by 27 franchise-based teams.

History

There have been various attempts to hold a Twenty20 (T20) cricket league in the United States, such as the short-lived Pro Cricket (which played a single season in 2004),[3] and the American Premier League, a proposed league in partnership between the United States of America Cricket Association (USACA) and New Zealand Cricket, modeled after domestic T20 competitions.

In January 2019, USA Cricket was approved as the new governing board for cricket in USA,[4] replacing the USACA, which had been expelled from the International Cricket Council in September 2017 due to governance issues.[5]

The new body set a goal for cricket to reach wider, mainstream popularity in the country, where it has typically been considered a niche international sport.[6][7]

In November 2018, USA Cricket announced that it was seeking partners to establish a domestic T20 league in the country by 2021, with goals to "engage existing fans and grow new ones", and spur "sustainable development of cricketing infrastructure across the United States".[3] In May 2019, USA Cricket accepted a bid by American Cricket Enterprises (ACE) for a $1 billion investment, covering the league and other investments benefitting the U.S. national teams. Its partners include Satyan Gajwani and Vineet Jain of The Times Group, and Willow TV founders Sameer Mehta and Vijay Srinivasan.[8][9] As part of the agreement, ACE also handles commercial activities for T20I and ODI matches hosted by the United States.[10]

In an annual general meeting on February 21, 2020, it was stated that USA Cricket planned to launch Major League Cricket in 2021, and a 22-team development league known as Minor League Cricket that summer as a prelude.[11] Minor League Cricket was officially announced the following week, with plans to host a nine-week, 170-game season beginning July 4.[12] However, it was postponed to 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States.[13][14]

In October 2020, USA Cricket reaffirmed plans to launch Major League Cricket in 2022 as part of its "foundational plan" for 2020–23.[15] On December 1, 2020, it was announced that the IPL's Kolkata Knight Riders (co-owned by Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan) would invest in ACE.[16][17] In May 2021, the launch of Major League Cricket was delayed to 2023 due to COVID-19 and to provide additional time to develop facilities.[18]

In February 2021, MLC announced plans for a youth version of Minor and Major League Cricket, as part of a pathway to give young cricketers the opportunity to play for official domestic teams and the national team.[19] In June 2022, MLC announced the inaugural season of the Minor League Cricket Youth Tournament (shortened to MiLC Youth), with UST tapped as title sponsor for the tournament.[20] The inaugural season of MiLC Youth was announced to be contested between 11 teams at the Prairie View Cricket Complex in Houston starting July 25, 2022.[21] The finals for the inaugural season took place on July 29 at between the Dallas Mustangs and the New Jersey Stallions,[22] in which the Stallions beat the Mustangs by 2 wickets.[23]

In May 2022, Major League Cricket announced that they had acquired funds of $120 million as part of its Series A and A1 fundraising rounds.[24] Investors committing to MLC featured the likes of Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, Ross Perot Jr., Anand Rajaraman, Shantanu Narayen and more.[25] MLC plans to use these funds to mainly build stadiums and first-class facilities in the hopes of accelerating cricket's development across the United States.[26][27]

In November 2022, it was announced the first season of MLC will be staged from July 13-30 at Grand Prairie Stadium in Dallas, Texas. The tournament will be played in a single round-robin format with 15 league matches played among six franchises before a four-match play-off phase. MLC also hopes to play matches in a to be constructed stadium in Los Angeles, and Church Street Park, North Carolina.[28]

Teams

MLC is expected to begin with six teams; the league will use a single-entity structure under which all teams are owned by ACE, with investor-operators (who have invested in the company) assigned to each team.[29] It hopes to expand to eight teams in the future, similar to other T20 leagues around the world.[30]

USA Cricket's CEO Iain Higgins identified Atlanta, Chicago, Los Angeles, New Jersey, New York, and San Francisco as markets where the sport was most popular.[17] On November 18, 2020, it was announced that ACE would lease AirHogs Stadium in Grand Prairie, Texas—home of the former Texas AirHogs independent baseball team—and convert it to a cricket-specific facility that will host a Dallas-based team in Major League Cricket.[31][32]

In March 2022, ACE discussed plans to invest $110 million in eight newly-constructed or renovated venues for the league and possible hosting of matches during the 2024 ICC Men's T20 World Cup (which the United States is co-hosting with the West Indies), including the aforementioned Grand Prairie Stadium, Church Street Park in Morrisville, Moosa Stadium in Pearland, Prairie View Cricket Complex in Prairie View, and new sites in Orange County, the Santa Clara County Fairgrounds, and Marymoor Park in Redmond. The renovated venues have a budget of approximately $3 million each, while the three new west coast venues have a budget of $30 million each; ACE stated that the west coast venues would be completed by 2024, and will have a projected capacity of 10,000–20,000.[33][34]

In July 2022, it was announced that MLC plans to launch its inaugural season in six markets across the United States including Dallas, Washington, D.C., Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, and Seattle.[35]

In late September 2022, it was announced that the player draft for the league's inaugural season would be held in February or March 2023.[36]

Minor League Cricket

Main article: Minor League Cricket

Minor League Cricket is a developmental league for Major League Cricket that completed its inaugural season in 2021 (delayed from 2020 due to COVID-19).[14] It consists of 27 franchise-based teams in four regional divisions.[37] Unlike Major League Cricket, Minor League Cricket uses privately owned franchises.[29]

References

  1. ^ "USA set to give massive push to T20 cricket; Major League Cricket secures 100m pounds for tournament". The Shillong Times. September 6, 2022. Retrieved September 6, 2022.
  2. ^ "The T20 Cricket in the US, the Major League Cricket, and the Future it Holds - Planet Cricket". planetcricket.com. Retrieved September 6, 2022.
  3. ^ a b "USA plan to launch their T20 League in 2021". ESPNcricinfo. November 27, 2018. Retrieved June 21, 2019.
  4. ^ "USA formally approved to rejoin ICC as Associate Member under USA Cricket". ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved January 8, 2019.
  5. ^ "USACA expelled by the ICC". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved September 25, 2017.
  6. ^ "New American governing body branded as USA Cricket". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved December 20, 2017.
  7. ^ Gladson, J.A.C. (September 26, 2017). "USA Cricket getting closer to becoming a new federation". Times of India. Retrieved November 8, 2017.
  8. ^ "USA Cricket receives $1 billion boost to develop T20 league". ESPNcricinfo. May 25, 2019. Retrieved June 22, 2019.
  9. ^ "Times Group: US T20 league to be launched in partnership with the Times Group". The Economic Times. Retrieved October 17, 2020.
  10. ^ "USA Cricket commercial partner deeply concerned over board's financial situation". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved October 30, 2022.
  11. ^ "USA targets hosting ICC global events in next cycle". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved October 17, 2020.
  12. ^ "USA Cricket Announce Franchise-based T20 Competition". Yahoo! Cricket. February 28, 2020. Retrieved October 17, 2020.
  13. ^ "USA Cricket re-evaluating Major League Cricket debut timing due to Covid-19 concerns". SportBusiness. August 2, 2020. Retrieved October 17, 2020.
  14. ^ a b "Minor League Cricket Draft Announcement and Latest Update on Plans for 2020". USA Cricket. August 6, 2020. Retrieved October 17, 2020.
  15. ^ "USA Cricket targets ICC Full Membership by 2030". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved October 17, 2020.
  16. ^ "Shah Rukh Khan's Knight Riders invests in US Major League Cricket | Business Standard News".
  17. ^ a b "Bollywood's Shah Rukh Khan buys into Major League Cricket". SportsPro Media. December 1, 2020. Retrieved December 1, 2020.
  18. ^ "USA's MLC T20 tournament pushed back to 2023 at AGM". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved July 26, 2021.
  19. ^ Dunmore, Tom (February 16, 2021). "Youth Cricketers to benefit from the new pathways created by MLC". Major League Cricket. Retrieved July 28, 2022.
  20. ^ "2022 UST Minor League Cricket Youth Tournament Announced". Minor League Cricket. June 10, 2022. Retrieved July 28, 2022.
  21. ^ "Inaugural UST Minor League Cricket Youth Tournament Underway in Houston, TX". MLC Academies. Major League Cricket. July 26, 2022. Retrieved July 28, 2022.
  22. ^ Minor League Cricket [@milcusa] (July 29, 2022). "Watch as the New Jersey Stallions take on the Dallas Mustangs in the @USTglobal MiLC Youth 2022 Finals tomorrow at 9:30am CT in Houston, TX!!!" (Tweet). Retrieved July 29, 2022 – via Twitter.
  23. ^ "UST Emerging Cricketer Scholarships Awared to Support Next Generation of American Cricket Talent". MLC Academies. Major League Cricket. July 29, 2022. Retrieved July 20, 2022.
  24. ^ "Major League Cricket Secures $120M Funding to Drive American Cricket Development". Major League Cricket. May 18, 2022. Retrieved May 19, 2022.
  25. ^ Halverson, Alex (May 18, 2022). "Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella leads investment to launch US pro cricket league". American City Business Journals. Retrieved May 19, 2022.
  26. ^ Penna, Peter (May 19, 2022). "Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, Ross Perot Jr among investors committing $120 million to MLC". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved May 19, 2022.
  27. ^ Byers, Justin (May 18, 2022). "Major League Cricket Secures $120M to Expand in U.S." Front Office Sports. Retrieved May 19, 2022.
  28. ^ "Major League Cricket set for July 2023 launch in Dallas". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved November 15, 2022.
  29. ^ a b "49ers helping USA Cricket to push niche sport into the mainstream". SportBusiness. November 11, 2020. Retrieved December 1, 2020.
  30. ^ "Major League Cricket Coming To North Texas". Texas Standard. September 14, 2021. Retrieved September 14, 2021. William Swann is vice president of corporate development for Major League Cricket... Swann says the league hopes to expand to eight teams later on.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  31. ^ "Grand Prairie approves stadium redevelopment plan that could make the city a premier U.S. cricket destination". The Dallas Morning News. November 18, 2020. Retrieved November 18, 2020.
  32. ^ "Former Dallas baseball stadium to become 'new home of USA cricket'". ESPNcricinfo. November 20, 2020. Retrieved November 20, 2020.
  33. ^ "USA T20 franchise league MLC projected to spend $110 million on facilities ahead of 2023 launch". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved April 18, 2022.
  34. ^ "MLC STADIUM DEVELOPMENT TIMELINES AND ADDITIONAL VENUES ANNOUNCED". Major League Cricket. Retrieved April 18, 2022.
  35. ^ Cassidy, Benjamin (July 26, 2022). "Cricket's Up to Bat in Seattle". Seattle Metropolitan. Retrieved July 29, 2022.
  36. ^ Lavalette, Tristan (September 29, 2022). "Major League Cricket To Rival Big-Spending T20 Startups And Power Cricket In The U.S." Forbes. Retrieved October 1, 2022.
  37. ^ "Player registration portal opened for inaugural Minor League Cricket". Cricbuzz. Retrieved October 17, 2020.
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