The International Cricket Council (ICC) is likely to reveal a 34,000-seater pop-up stadium about 30 miles east of New York City as one of the venues for the much-anticipated 2024 T20 World Cup, which will be co-hosted by the United States and the West Indies. The facility will be built in Eisenhower Park, which spans 930 acres in East Meadow, a Long Island hamlet roughly 30 miles east of Manhattan. The stadium is also expected to host the headline match between India and Pakistan.
The announcement is expected within months after meaningful talks between ICC and New York City officials for the construction of a similar pop venue in Bronx’s Van Cortlandt Park fell through. After strong opposition from neighbors living surrounding the park and one of the cricket leagues headquartered in the park, city officials were forced to abandon the plans for Bronx. The Bronx’s loss was Nassau County’s gain, as the ICC was fast to initiate negotiations with Nassau County officials, the managers of Eisenhower Park.
There has been a lot of pressure on the ICC to get cricket started in the United States. The country has a two-pronged appeal in that it is the world’s largest media market as well as the world’s fastest-growing cricket market. In terms of cash value, the United States is thought to be among the top four countries for ICC media rights. The ICC’s selection of the United States as co-hosts of the T20 World Cup was one such affirmative measure.
However, the ICC has always been concerned about the presence or lack of cricket infrastructure in the United States. MLC did unveil its 15k-seater flagship stadium in Dallas for their inaugural season, but the country lacks another permanent floodlit state-of-the-art cricket structure other from the stated venue and Central Broward Park near Miami.
The Eisenhower Park arrangement should solve many of the ICC’s venue issues in the United States. The ICC granted the United States around 20 games, which will now be split among the three facilities. Church Street Park in Morrisville, North Carolina, another MLC venue, is also thought to be in the running to host a few World Cup games. The facility, on the other hand, lacks any permanent structure or practice facilities.
The ICC already confirmed that the 20-team World Cup will begin on June 4 and end on June 30. With the MLC’s second edition likely slated for July, there’s a good chance the MLC will take use of the recently installed infrastructure at Eisenhower Park and make it the new temporary home for the MI New York.
