With Cricket Blossoming There, Seattle Looms As A Venue For The 2024 T20 World Cup

The momentous, ground-breaking T20 World Cup co-hosted by the U.S. – the pet project from cricket’s power brokers – is only two years away.

It feels almost hard to believe given just three months ago Australia won the rescheduled T20 World Cup and their title defence on home soil starts in only eight months. The Covid-19 pandemic has tightened the schedule but preparations are well underway for the blockbuster event in 2024.

Given the desire for the the International Cricket Council (ICC) to open their cycle of events from 2024-31 with pizzazz, in the world’s biggest sports market, there was an acceleration to hand the bid to the U.S and Caribbean.

USA Cricket had told me previously that a 2026 or 2030 bid had been originally earmarked, but the ICC couldn’t resist an early unveiling of what will be a pivotal moment for the sport’s bid to try to make an imprint in the congested American sports market.

It has put pressure on either building or re-purposing facilities to suit the oddities of cricket, which is played on an oval shaped grass field with a 22 yard pitch in the middle. Amid a much-needed makeover, the famous city of Dallas has become the home of cricket in the country with AirHogs Stadium in Grand Prairie, in the western suburbs, to be transformed into an 8000-seat venue with development expected to be complete later this year.

Other developments have been announced in Santa Clara County Fairgrounds in San Jose and in the Town of Morrisville in North Carolina. The need for venues has been heightened with the six-team Major League Cricket, America’s first professional T20 cricket competition, set to start in 2023.

Another intriguing potential destination is in the Pacific Northwest with plans progressing to develop a multi-million dollar cricket venue in the famous sports city of Seattle.  

The Marymoor Cricket Community Park is set to be a “state-of-the-art cricket facility” at a 20-acre site about twenty minutes from downtown Seattle. It would be located in a coveted area at the heart of fast-growing tech hubs in Bellevue and Redmond.

Boasting a large expat community from the subcontinent, the region is home to three adult cricket leagues with over 3500 members and a “fast-growing” youth cricket program.

The venue is expected to hold around 6000 spectators but can increase to 10,000 for larger events such as a T20 World Cup. It all means a bold bid has been launched for a coveted berth for Seattle at the 2024 event, which will be beamed to potentially billions of viewers worldwide.

The Central Broward Regional Park in Lauderhill, Florida, is the only ICC certified ground in the U.S. – a locale close to the Caribbean. But Dallas, San Jose, Morrisville and now Seattle loom as other likely venues for the T20 World Cup.

The plan was unanimously passed last week by King County Council underlining the growth of cricket in the area. “As our region grows, we see more interest in cricket, which is one of the most popular sports in the world,” King County Council chair Claudia Balducci said. 

Sameer Mehta, co-founder of Major League Cricket, said it was a logical site given the sport’s blossoming imprint in the region. “Major League Cricket has been incredibly impressed by the passion for cricket shown by the community in King County and the broader Seattle region, which boasts one of the largest participation bases for the sport in the country,” he said.

Seattle Thunderbolts are part of the Minor Cricket League and will play in the upcoming season at Tollgate Farm Park in North Bend, which is about 28 miles from downtown Seattle.

“The Seattle Thunderbolts are tremendously excited about this much-needed proposed development that would allow the cricket community to see thrilling Minor League Cricket games at an outstanding venue for our players and fans,” Seattle Thunderbolts owners Salman Taj, Vijay Beniwal and Phani Chitneni said in a statement.

Iconic for sports, business and arts, the beautiful city of Seattle could soon boast an unlikely reputation for being a breeding ground for cricket development in the U.S. while playing host to one of the biggest events in the sport.