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Cricket is one of the most popular sports in the world — second to only soccer — and now one U.S. county with an estimated 100,000 cricket fans is getting a 10,000-capacity cricket stadium.
The Knight Riders Group is reportedly making an investment – in the range of $30 million – in the stadium, located on a 15-acre plot in Orange County, California.
- KRG owns the Kolkata Knight Riders, the Indian Premier League’s third-most valuable team ($1.1 billion), and the Caribbean Premier League’s Trinbago Knight Riders.
- Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan backs KRG. Actor Juhi Chawla and businessman Jay Mehta join KRG in the investment.
Major League Cricket, the first professional T20 cricket league in the U.S., received approval to advance lease negotiations following an exclusive negotiating agreement with Irvine, California.
The Knight Riders Group previously invested in MLC, which begins in 2023, with American Cricket Enterprises. ESPN reports MLC plans to build or renovate as many as eight facilities in the coming years for an estimated $110 million.
Cricket Competitions
The stadium is roughly 40 miles from downtown Los Angeles, the home to two of 27 Minor League Cricket teams — the Socal Lashings and the Hollywood Master Blasters — and another 200,000 fans in Los Angeles County.
Co-hosted by the U.S. and West Indies in 2024, the stadium could help host the International Cricket Council’s Men’s T20 World Cup if it’s completed in time. The ICC is also bidding for cricket to be included in the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games.
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