NEW YORK: Ten-odd months after USA Cricket announced a commercial rights agreement with American Cricket Enterprises (ACE) – a special purpose entity that lists Times of India and Willow TV (itself owned by Times Internet) as its promoters – with $ 1 billion committed to growing a Twenty20 league in US, “Phase 1” of the project has been unveiled.
Ahead of the scheduled launch of the T20 league in 2021, ACE announced the official launch of a Minor League T20 franchise tournament. The tournament is slated to take place over the span of nine weeks starting from the July 4th weekend with games primarily taking place on the weekends.
This is the first step on the path towards establishing “Major League Cricket”, a fully professional T20 league in the United States that will be launched subsequently (in 2021).
Key components of Minor League Cricket:
22-team city-based tournament, including teams from the Bay Area, Los Angeles, Sacramento, Seattle, Austin, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Michigan, Chicago/St Louis, Boston, New York/New Jersey, Morrisville, Washington, Atlanta and Florida
9-week season, comprising 170 matches played regionally, culminating in a national final
Competitive opportunities for the best domestic and under-21 cricketers across the country, playing alongside semi-professional and professional cricketers
Played on the best available grounds and facilities across the country
Intended that matches will be live streamed and/or broadcast
Built around support from the local leagues and overseen by a Governing Council made up of leaders in the cricket community
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