New York to host India vs Pakistan clash in 2024 T20 World Cup: Reports
New York City is all set to host the big-money clash between India and Pakistan at the 2024 T20 World Cup, which will be held in the West Indies and the USA.
According to Cricbuzz, a new stadium facility will be erected in Eisenhower Park, 30 miles east of New York. It will spread across 930 acres in East Meadow.
The International Cricket Council (ICC) apparently wanted to construct a similar facility in Van Cortlandt Park in Bronx. However, locals residing around the park and a local cricket league based out of the park resisted and the ICC dropped the plan.
ICC was quick in negotiations with Nassau County, the administrators of the Eisenhower Park, and reached an agreement.
This will take the available floodlight-lit and international standard facilities in the USA to three. There's a 15k-seater stadium in Dallas used for the inaugural season of Major League Cricket and the Central Broward Park in Miami.
The successful hosting of the 20 games awarded to the USA for the 2024 T20 World Cup is a big priority of the ICC. The 2028 Olympics will be hosted by Los Angeles as well and this event will give confidence to the International Olympic Committee to include cricket as one of the sports for the major event.
The USA is also the biggest sporting market in the world. Despite having a fledgling international team and only a few-year-old league system, the USA media rights for ICC tournaments are believed to be among the top four in terms of dollar value.
New York legislator requested ICC to host 2024 T20 World Cup matches in the city
Last month, Jenifer Rajkumar, the first Indian-American woman in the state's Assembly, requested International Cricket Council chairman Greg Barclay to allot some matches of the 2024 T20 World Cup to her state.
"On behalf of tens of thousands of New York cricket fans, I write to implore you (Barclay) to select New York City as the host for the ICC World Cup," Rajkumar said in a letter. "I am a proud supporter of cricket, having played the sport as a child with my cousins in India. Our love of cricket is due in no small part to New York City being the cross-section of the world. We have welcomed people from all nations where cricket is a national pastime."
Rajkumar wrote about the city's cultural diversity and the presence of communities from Southeast Asia and other participating nations. She said that watching the tournament would be a "dream come true" for them.