Grand Prairie will become home to USA Cricket after a $13 million renovation of the North Texas city’s stadium. Arrangements are ongoing for USA Cricket, in partnership with Major League Cricket, to launch operations at the stadium located at 1600 Lone Star Parkway.
With some alterations scheduled to be done by mid-to-late 2022, the nearly 80,000-square-foot stadium of the former Texas Airhogs minor league baseball team will be ready to house the U.S. governing body of cricket. The facility is scheduled to host one of the six inaugural Major League Cricket teams after the renovation.
The Grand Prairie Cricket Stadium project includes plans to convert the existing 5,400 seating capacity space into a new natural grass field.
Explaining the reason behind their decision to operate in Grand Prairie, Major League Cricket vice president of corporate development William Swann said, “There is a huge cricket fan base in America that’s been starved of really strong domestic cricket being played in the U.S.”
According to Swann, bringing USA Cricket to the Dallas-Fort Worth area was an easy decision because of the strong interest in cricket across the region.
Director of economic development for the City of Grand Prairie Marty Weider said that the plan for the Grand Prairie Cricket Stadium has been ongoing for the last three years. She explained that the ownership of the stadium remains the city’s while Swann is listed as the primary tenant.
In addition to major league games, Grand Prairie will host the U.S. men’s and women’s national teams. The stadium will also host other international competitions.
Wieder is excited about the project as he said that the city is eager to have a permanent home for cricket, the second-most-watched sport in the world. “From a major league aspect, to be able to somewhat be the birthplace of Major League Cricket is huge,” he stated. The director also hopes that the facility will boost the local economy.
