Major League Cricket signs long-term lease to develop the first MLC cricket stadium in Grand Prairie

By: Malcom Chakery

GRAND PRAIRIE, TX Major League Cricket (MLC) has received approval from the City of Grand Prairie for a long-term lease to begin an extensive redevelopment of AirHogs Stadium as the organization’s first major cricket stadium in the United States. MLC’s parent company, American Cricket Enterprises (ACE) – in partnership with USA Cricket, the national governing body for cricket in the United States – has retained internationally renowned design firm HKS to repurpose and design what will only be the second professional. level cricket stadium ever built in the United States.

One of the finest sports facilities in minor league baseball during its past life as the home of the Texas AirHogs, the soon to be renamed stadium will now become a world-class dedicated cricket facility. The site’s redevelopment is slated to take place in 2021 before the Dallas franchise of Major League Cricket, which launches in 2022, as well as USA Cricket’s headquarters and main high-performance center.

As the first Major League Cricket Stadium in the United States, Grand Prairie represents a groundbreaking moment for the sport in America, and we are incredibly excited to partner with the City of Grand Prairie to bring Major League Cricket to Dallas, said Sameer Mehta and Vijay Srinivasan, co-founders of ACE and MLC. The central location of Grand Prairies in the US and the thriving Texas cricket community coupled with the quality of the facility made it the perfect site for us and we are sure this is the start of a fruitful long term partnership with the city it will bring good luck.

The city of Grand Prairie is an ideal location for a premier Texas cricket stadium, with its strong cricket fan base and demographics in the surrounding areas, favorable time zone for broadcast to major international cricket markets, and Dallas-Fort Worth’s pedigree for major sports teams and stadiums. In the new cricket stadium, the existing baseball diamond will be transformed into an international size and quality cricket ground suitable for major international matches, a number of training nets and batting lanes will be added, as well as two additional grass pitches outside which will be used for training. and by the affiliated Major League Cricket academies. When completed, it will be the most comprehensive and fully dedicated cricket facility in the United States.

The venue will be a centerpiece of USA Crickets’ efforts to bring major international events to the United States, including regional International Cricket Council (ICC) World Cup and T20 World Cup qualifiers, and International Series against Canada and other contemporary countries. The stadium will also play a prominent role in USA Crickets’ efforts to bring the ICC World Cup to the United States by 2031, the second largest global sporting event by TV viewers, in a process underway as part of a joint bid with the West Indies.

We are very excited about this opportunity to bring cricket to Texas by converting our minor league baseball stadium, said Grand Prairie Mayor Ron Jensen. Cricket is the second most popular sport in the world after football, with a large and growing audience in the United States. We look forward to an exciting future with our partners.

The redeveloped stadium is scheduled to be ready for cricket by spring 2022, but will serve as a major high-performance center for the US men’s and women’s national cricket teams in the meantime. The national teams and other major youth and zonal cricket teams will be able to use it for training during that time. The men’s national team is currently ranked 19th in the world and first achieved One Day International status in 2019. The US women’s national team will try to qualify for the Cricket World Cup for the first time next year, having progressed to global qualification in 2019.

Working with our partners at ACE, we now have a world-class facility to develop our domestic talent and help us achieve the goals announced in our Foundational Plan, said Paraag Marathe, USA Cricket Chairman. The successful development of a cricket stadium has long been a priority for us, and it is an important step forward for the growth of cricket in America. We also look forward to bringing international cricket events and the audiences that go with them to our new stadium and introducing the sport to a wider audience.

USA Cricket has recently undergone a major transformation, including the release of the organization’s first Foundational Plan with the vision to establish cricket as a leading sport in the US and become a full member of the International Cricket Council by 2030. Cricket is the world’s second-most popular sport in terms of worldwide audience, attracting billions of viewers worldwide with a significant, growing US fan base. USA Cricket has 200,000 regular players across the country, with over 20 million fans and over 4 million regular viewers of cricket.

The AirHogs Stadium was honored by Baseball Digest in 2008 as the best new post-season baseball field and served as the home of the American Association of Independent Professional Baseball’s Texas AirHogs for 12 years. Conveniently located between Arlington and Dallas, the stadium is adjacent to the Lone Star Park Racecourse and The Theater at Grand Prairie, currently seats 5,445 people and features 13 luxury suites and ample space for upgraded amenities to enhance the experience of fans and cricketers alike. . The stadium will be repurposed to be fully dedicated to cricket, with an increase in seating capacity planned to accommodate more than 8,000 spectators with additional and enhanced hospitality features.

Along with the changing demographics of the Dallas area that have made the area a prime location for basic cricket development, the sport has made recent advancements domestically at a professional level. After a player release in August of this year, Minor League Cricket (MiLC) successfully hosted a series of exhibition matches over five weeks, the largest national cricket league in US history. The top amateur cricketers in the US, along with 36 first-class and international players, played 51 competitive and entertaining T20 matches in 17 venues, involving 18 of the 24 MiLC franchises with 312 players called up competing in at least one match. ACE is preparing to launch the full inaugural MiLC T20 cricket season in May 2021, with MLC expected to start its league in 2022.

Exclusive to USA Cricket, MLC represents the most ambitious and transformational endeavor ever undertaken in the American cricket landscape. Aimed at hosting the highest quality T20 cricket for US cricket fans, MLC will showcase top international cricketers from all over the world and provide a stage for domestic cricketers to showcase their talents to a global audience.

As a member of the ICCs for the United States, USA Cricket has selected MLC as the exclusive partner for the development of a professional T20 cricket league. As illustrated by this establishment of AirHogs Stadium as a high-performance training center for USA Cricket, MLC provides support to both the US men’s and women’s teams with the aim of elevating them to the highest level of international competition.

The founders of MLC have been deeply involved in cricket in the US for years, particularly in establishing the US as a major broadcasting market for the sport. MLC was co-founded by the founders of Willow TV, the largest cricket station in North America, and the directors of The Times of India Group, India’s largest media conglomerate. MLC is also backed by a prominent and diverse group of investors from across the US.