Cricket is in tumult in the U.S. (Photo by Matt Roberts-ICC/ICC via Getty Images)
ICC via Getty Images
American Cricket Enterprises has filed legal proceedings against USA Cricket, its strategic partner to operate Major League Cricket, in an escalation of a dispute feared to undermine cricket’s development in the sport’s number one target growth market.
The future of MLC, having steadily grown over its first three seasons, is uncertain and potential ramifications could also extend to cricket’s return to the Los Angeles Olympics.
USA Cricket, on the brink of suspension from the International Cricket Council, last month terminated its 50-year commercial agreement with private consortium ACE, alleging several breaches, including financial commitments, infrastructure development, organizational structural and governance responsibilities.
With the developments being closely monitored in the ICC’s Dubai headquarters and Lausanne, the Olympic capital, it is believed that USA Cricket agreed to suspend the termination amid much furore.
But with the original termination now reinstated, ACE has hit back in a matter that is set to hit court.
“We’re disappointed with the actions of USA Cricket,” ACE chief executive Johnny Grave told me. “For the last six years, ACE has been focused on the athletes, fans and partners who have helped develop U.S. cricket.
“We have commenced legal proceedings against USAC to prevent the irreparable harm caused by its wrongful termination of the ACE agreement and to protect the thriving cricket community that ACE has cultivated in America.”
USA Cricket chair Venu Piske said the legal action was a “welcoming move for USA Cricket, its community and its stakeholders”.
“For once and all, this will give us an opportunity to reveal all the truth in front of the judiciary system and clean up the much required pending issues since the last six years,” he told me.
There have been three editions of Major League Cricket (Photo by Shaun Roy / Sportzpics for MLC)
Shaun Roy
Selected in grandiose fashion back in 2019, private consortium ACE was set to invest more than $1 billion into the development of cricket domestically in the U.S. with the flagship being MLC, a lucrative T20 domestic tournament hoped to ignite the bat and ball game in the world’s biggest sports market.
Investment from ACE has now surpassed $150 million and there is a goal for the U.S. to boast 10 international cricket grounds by 2030. Exciting potential plans include international cricket being played at the iconic Oakland Coliseum, where ACE owns two drop-in pitches.
But all this could be under threat given the latest developments, which could also have a ripple effect into the proposed stadium for the Los Angeles Olympics – as I first reported last month.
In April, it was announced that cricket at the 2028 Games will be played at a temporary venue at the Fairplex in Pomona, 30 miles east of Los Angeles.
Knight Riders, the Indian Premier League and Los Angeles-based MLC franchise, is set to be the stadium’s anchor tenant and fund permanent features, including the playing square, outfield and drainage, practice nets and floodlights.
Cricket will be played at the LA Olympics (Photo by INDRANIL MUKHERJEE/AFP via Getty Images)
AFP via Getty Images
A 6000-8000-seat stadium, complete with hospitality suites, is envisioned and if all goes to plan then MLC games might be played there next season or in 2027.
But the deal is still to be signed off between Knight Riders and Fairplex, a non-profit organization that has a partnership with the County of Los Angeles, with the USA Cricket saga becoming a complication.
Pressure has been mounting on the ICC to step in. Chair Jay Shah and chief executive Sanjay Gupta were recently in the U.S., where they were spotted at the U.S. Open grand slam tennis event in New York.
Their official visit to the U.S. was believed to not be related to the American cricket saga, but there have been reports that Shah was set to meet with USA Cricket chiefs.
As I first reported, USA Cricket was given a three-month lifeline in July by the ICC to address its governance issues. USA Cricket has announced upcoming board elections, which need to be contested within this three-month timeframe.
There is a long history of tumult in American cricket, with USA Cricket Association – the previous governing body – expelled in 2017 after being suspended three times before that.