EAST MEADOW, N.Y. — Nassau County executive Bruce Blakeman and representatives from the International Cricket Council (ICC) unveiled its 34,000-seat temporary stadium and its hosting schedule for the 2024 T20 Cricket World Cup, which begins in June.
The privately funded stadium, which has already begun construction and is expected to be completed by May 20, will be built at Eisenhower Park in Nassau County and will be larger than any cricket stadium in the United Kingdom, the birthplace of the game. It is currently being called the Nassau County International Cricket Stadium.
“We will be building probably the finest cricket facility as far as the field,” T20 Cricket World Cup development director Don Lockerbie said. “In 120 days, we’ll be done with construction. It’s a temporary facility. The ICC elected to do something large and big and we couldn’t be more proud to be here in Nassau County.”
The venue was designed by the same firm that designed Citi Field and Yankee Stadium, Populous, and will host eight group-stage matches before the tournament transitions to the West Indies for the knockout stages. While local fans will have an opportunity to see the United States national team play, the new stadium will host the gargantuan clash of two of cricket’s largest powerhouses, Pakistan and India.
New York 2024 T20 Cricket World Cup schedule
- Monday, June 3: Sri Lanka vs. South Africa
- Wednesday, June 5: India vs. Ireland
- Friday, June 7: Canada vs. Ireland
- Saturday, June 8: Netherlands vs. South Africa
- Sunday, June 9: India vs. Pakistan
- Monday, June 10: South Africa vs. Bangladesh
- Tuesday, June 11: Pakistan vs. Canada
- Wednesday, June 12: USA vs. India
New York is one of three sites in the United States that will be hosting Cricket World Cup games this summer alongside sites in Lauderhill, FL and Dallas TX.
The T20 Cricket World Cup is expected to amass 1.2 billion viewers worldwide this summer. Compare that to the estimated 250 million viewers for the Super Bowl.
“I’m going to be perfectly honest with you, I didn’t know very much about cricket,” Blakeman said. “I knew there was a bat and a ball… I knew that it was popular. I had no idea just how popular it was.”
While hosting the event was considered a no-brainer for Nassau County, the ICC needed to tap into the New York market — the largest sporting market in North America and one of the most formidable on the planet — to help showcase its event to the world.
“We know for a fact that there are 30 million cricket fans in the United States,” Lockerbie told amNewYork. “It’s the third-largest viewing country of cricket. It’s amazing. So of course, you have to bring it to the New York area. You have to.”
Following the World Cup, the stadium is to be dismantled toward the end of July but the pitch will remain for public use.
“We will leave behind the finest cricket facility in the world as far as the field is concerned,” Lockerbie said. “We will create the championship field and recreation cricket ground and practice nets as a legacy, which means we could always come back.”
