As first reported by Cricbuzz, the ICC have announced a 34,000-seater pop-up facility about 30 miles east of New York City as one of venues for the much-anticipated 2024 T20 World Cup co-hosted by the USA and the West Indies. The facility will be erected in the Eisenhower Park spread across 930 acres in East Meadow, a hamlet on Long Island, about 30 miles east of Manhattan. It is understood that the venue will also play host to the marquee clash between India and Pakistan.
The announcement comes within months after the substantive talks between ICC and New York City officials fell through for the construction of a similar pop venue in Van Cortlandt Park in the borough of Bronx. The city officials were compelled to drop the plans for Bronx after some heavy resistance from some of the locals residing around the park and one of the cricket leagues that is based out of the same park. Bronx’s loss was Nassau County’s gain as the ICC proved to be quick on its feet to materialize negotiations with the Nassau County officials, the administrators of the Eisenhower Park.
There has been considerable clamor within the ICC to have cricket make headway in USA. The country provides a two-pronged appeal being the world’s biggest media market as well as the fastest-emerging cricket market around the globe. The USA media rights for ICC events are believed to be amongst the top 4 countries in terms of dollar value. The designation of USA as co-hosts for the T20 World Cup was one such affirmative action from the ICC.
However, the existing cricketing infrastructure in the US or the lack of it has always been a matter of great speculation and concern for the ICC. MLC did unveil its 15k-seater flagship stadium in Dallas for their inaugural season, but apart from the said facility and Central Broward Park near Miami, the country lacks another permanent floodlit state of the art cricket structure.
The Eisenhower Park agreement should alleviate much of ICC’s problems with respect to venues in the US. The ICC awarded about 20 games to the USA, which now looks likely to be distributed among the three facilities.
The ICC earlier announced the 20-team World Cup will commence on June 4 and conclude on June 30. With the second edition of the MLC tentatively scheduled in July, there is every possibility the MLC may sweep in to leverage the newly-laid infrastructure at Eisenhower Park and make the park the new temporary home for the MI New York.
The ICC later confirmed that New York would be a venue, as earlier reported by Cricbuzz. The two additional venues announced are Florida (Broward County) and Dallas (Grand Prairie).
“We’re delighted to announce the three USA venues that will host part of the biggest ICC Men’s T20 World Cup ever staged, with 20 teams competing for the trophy.” said Geoff Allardice, ICC Chief Executive. “The USA is a strategically important market and these venues give us an excellent opportunity to make a statement in the world’s biggest sport market.”
“We explored a number of potential venue options in the country, and we were hugely encouraged by the enthusiasm the event generated amongst prospective hosts, reinforcing the growing awareness around cricket’s massive fanbase and its power to unite diverse communities.
Allardice further spoke about the use of “modular stadium technology” used in the 2024 edition to increase the capacity of the stadium, which will encourage more fans to attend live matches.
“We are very excited about the opportunity to use modular stadium technology to present world class cricket in a location that has not previously hosted an ICC global event giving USA cricket fans the chance to watch the world’s best on their doorstep. This technology has been used at previous ICC events to increase venue capacity and it’s routinely used in other major sports around the world. In the USA, it will give us the opportunity to increase the size of the venues in both Dallas and Florida and create what is going to be a stunning venue in New York.”
*The News item was edited on September 20, 2023 (3:00PM IST) after the ICC Media Release.
