USA aiming to make former Dallas baseball stadium its new home of cricket
Intending to develop a high-performance center for the USA national team and transform Dallas into the home of USA Cricket, American Cricket Enterprises (ACE) have signed a 15-year lease for the AirHogs Stadium.
ACE is an official partner of Major League Cricket, and its target is to host a franchise on this ground in 2022. The AirHogs Stadium is in Grand Prairie, Texas, and the 6,000 capacity venue previously hosted minor league baseball and soccer fixtures.
Texas AirHogs used this stadium for their matches, but unfortunately, because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Texas-based team had to wind up their business. ACE took this opportunity to acquire the stadium, and approximately $10 million will be spent to turn it into an ODI venue by 2022.
"We're going to put Grand Prairie on the global map," says USA Cricket chairman
USA Cricket chairman Paraag Marathe expressed his excitement after this 'watershed moment' in their history.
"We're going to put Grand Prairie on the global map because hopefully, when we get World Cups and international events, this is going to be one of the key stadiums we're playing matches in. The flagship where we're going to be first putting up our flag and announcing USA Cricket to the rest of the world is going to be right here in Grand Prairie," Marathe said in a Zoom press conference on Wednesday (18 November).
The USA is gradually growing as a cricketing nation. They played their first ODI match against Papua New Guinea last year. Besides, the USA's fast bowler Ali Khan became the first American player to earn an IPL contract.
The Kolkata Knight Riders signed him as a replacement player in IPL 2020. Unfortunately, Khan himself got injured before he could make his debut.