Major League Cricket

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 in 2022, with six teams in major U.S. cities under a single-entity model. In 2021, it will begin a development league, Minor League Cricket, which will be played between 24 franchise-based teams across the United States.

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

Major League Cricket
SportCricket
FoundedJanuary 2019 (January 2019)
Inaugural season2022
Owner(s)American Cricket Enterprises
No. of teams6
Country United States
Official websitemajorleaguecricket.com

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),[1] 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 such as the Indian Premier League.[2]

In January 2019, USA Cricket was approved as a new associate member of the International Cricket Council,[3] replacing the USACA—which had been expelled in 2017 due to governance issues.[4] 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.[5][6]

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".[1] 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.[7][8]

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.[9] Minor League Cricket was officially announced the following week, with plans to host a nine-week, 170-game season beginning July 4.[10] However, it was postponed to spring 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States.[11][12]

In October 2020, USA Cricket reaffirmed plans to launch Major League Cricket in 2022 as part of its "foundational plan" for 2020–23.[13] 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.[14]

Teams

MLC is expected to begin with six teams; the league will use a single-entity structure under all teams are owned by ACE, with investor-operators for each team who hold stakes in the company.[15]

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.[16] On November 18, 2020, it was announced that ACE would lease AirHogs Stadium in Grand Prairie, Texas—home of the former Texas AirHogs baseball team—and convert it to a cricket-specific facility that will host a Dallas-based team in Major League Cricket.[17][18]

Minor League Cricket
Minor League Cricket
SportCricket
Inaugural season2021
No. of teams24 in four divisions
Country United States
Official websitemajorleaguecricket.com/minorleaguecricket

Minor League Cricket is a developmental league for Major League Cricket that plans to begin play in spring 2021 (delayed from 2020 due to COVID-19).[12] It will consist of 24 franchise-based teams in four regional conferences.[19] The league began its regional draft process in late-August 2020, and a series of exhibition games in September 2020.[12]

Unlike Major League Cricket, Minor League Cricket will use privately-owned franchises.[15] ACE announced the 24 teams and their owners on August 15, 2020:[20]

Division Club City Owners
Eastern New England Eagles Boston Ravi Rao
Jack Patel
Nitin Mewada
Pawan Daruri
Ravi Uppalapati
New Jersey Somerset Cavaliers Cricket Club Somerset Aslam Khan
Muhammad Nisar Ahmed
New Jersey Stallions Jersey City Venu Palaparthi
Ravikumar Suri
Empire State Titans New York City Empire State Cricket
The Philadelphians Philadelphia William Precious
Murali Kailashnath
Santhosh Kandasamy
Mayurnath Sankar Rao
Sathya Narayana C.V
Jaisri Murahari
DC Hawks Washington DC Rajit Passey
Western Silicon Valley Strikers Bay Peninsula bInfinite
Bay Blazers East Bay Premkumar Suri and Partners
Hollywood Master Blasters Los Angeles Janak Patel
SoCal Lashings Cricket Los Angeles Abhimanyu Rajp
Deepak Gosain
Golden State Grizzlies Sacramento ACE
San Diego Surf Riders San Diego Rajinder Ghai
Gangaram Singh
Sanjit Menezes
Jimmy Anklesaria
Ram Madabushi
Central Austin Athletics Austin Manish Patel and Partners
Chicago Blasters Chicago Iftekhar Shareef
Khurram Syed
American Cricket Academy and Club
Chicago Catchers Chicago Cricket Management Group, LLC
Irving Mustangs Dallas Lovkesh Kalia
Houston Hurricanes Houston Tanweer Ahmed
Michigan Cricket Stars Michigan Nabeel Ahmed
Michigan Cricket Stars, LLC
Southern Atlanta Fire Atlanta Mohammed Hasan Tarek
Atlanta Param Veers Atlanta Jayesh Patel
Fort Lauderdale Lions Fort Lauderdale Krishna Persaud
Florida Beamers Miami Cricket Management Group, LLC
Morrisville Cardinals Morrisville Praveen Chakraraj and Partners
Orlando Galaxy Orlando Rahul Joshi
Kunal Patel
Ravi Panchal
Mangesh Chaudhari

References
  1. "USA plan to launch their T20 League in 2021". ESPNcricinfo. November 27, 2018. Retrieved June 21, 2019.
  2. Lord, Richard (October 17, 2011). "Cricket in U.S. Suffers Key Flaw: It's Not Baseball". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved October 17, 2020.
  3. "USA formally approved to rejoin ICC as Associate Member under USA Cricket". ESPN Cricinfo. Retrieved January 8, 2019.
  4. "USACA expelled by the ICC". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved September 25, 2017.
  5. "New American governing body branded as USA Cricket". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved December 20, 2017.
  6. Gladson, J.A.C. (September 26, 2017). "USA Cricket getting closer to becoming a new federation". Times of India. Retrieved November 8, 2017.
  7. "USA Cricket receives $1 billion boost to develop T20 league". ESPNcricinfo. May 25, 2019. Retrieved June 22, 2019.
  8. "Times Group: US T20 league to be launched in partnership with the Times Group". The Economic Times. Retrieved October 17, 2020.
  9. "USA targets hosting ICC global events in next cycle". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved October 17, 2020.
  10. "USA Cricket Announce Franchise-based T20 Competition". Yahoo! Cricket. February 28, 2020. Retrieved October 17, 2020.
  11. "USA Cricket re-evaluating Major League Cricket debut timing due to Covid-19 concerns". SportBusiness. August 2, 2020. Retrieved October 17, 2020.
  12. "Minor League Cricket Draft Announcement and Latest Update on Plans for 2020". USA Cricket. August 6, 2020. Retrieved October 17, 2020.
  13. "USA Cricket targets ICC Full Membership by 2030". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved October 17, 2020.
  14. "Bollywood's Shah Rukh Khan buys into Major League Cricket". SportsPro Media. December 1, 2020. Retrieved December 1, 2020.
  15. "49ers helping USA Cricket to push niche sport into the mainstream". SportBusiness. November 11, 2020. Retrieved December 1, 2020.
  16. "Bollywood's Shah Rukh Khan buys into Major League Cricket". SportsPro Media. December 1, 2020. Retrieved December 1, 2020.
  17. "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.
  18. "Former Dallas baseball stadium to become 'new home of USA cricket'". ESPNcricinfo. November 20, 2020. Retrieved November 20, 2020.
  19. "Player registration portal opened for inaugural Minor League Cricket". Cricbuzz. Retrieved October 17, 2020.
  20. "Minor League Cricket Announces Franchise Owners and Draft Update". USA Cricket. August 15, 2020. Retrieved October 17, 2020.
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