Latest news with #JohnnyGrave
Yahoo
11-07-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Third-year Major League Cricket league hopes to keep growing the sport in US
OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — Australian cricket legend Adam Gilchrist had barely made it inside the Coliseum entrance when dozens of fans swarmed him, and he obliged every request for photos and autographs. Major League Cricket's week-long stop in the Bay Area last month had top officials in the sport thrilled with how the old Oakland Coliseum provides an ideal spot for the sport to thrive — even for major international competitions like World Cup and exhibition matches ahead of the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, when the sport makes its return for the first time in 100 years. Advertisement 'I've been really pleased with the way it's been received,' Gilchrist said. 'Clearly, the South Asian community up to India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, that region, it's a religion there. And given the diaspora here and the number of South Asians in the community, I figured that they would have a keen following. It's great to see new faces to cricket.' Attendance for the opening weekend totaled more than 25,000 as the third-year, six-team league kicked off its season with great support in the Bay Area. Then, cricket scored another major victory June 29 in Dallas when the Texas Super Kings against MI New York drew a sellout of more than 6,100 with a standing-room only crowd at Grand Prairie Stadium — the largest regular-season attendance at that venue. It was the second-highest total for the sport at that venue behind the 2023 Championship Final. And new Major League Cricket CEO Johnny Grave is committed to keep growing cricket in the U.S. just a few months into his tenure, which has included a move from Antigua in the West Indies to Dallas. He dreams of the day when all ages and skill sets are involved. Curtly Ambrose, who retired 25 years ago, coaches at the highest levels at home in Antigua. He is hopeful cricket will catch on as a popular sport in the U.S. — and is encouraged by the support in the San Francisco area. Advertisement 'Very, very unique because where I come from there are always traditional cricket stadiums. This is different, baseball stadium, drop-in surfaces. That is something that doesn't happen in cricket normally but the support is good and I have a feeling that this will get bigger and better.' In a city that has lost its three major professional sports teams over the past five years, cricket's Oakland stop certainly brought a festival-like atmosphere to the Coliseum — devoid of baseball for the first time since 1968 after the Athletics relocated to West Sacramento ahead of a planned move to Las Vegas. The dual-sport Coliseum — where the Oakland Roots soccer team now plays — is already a planned site for training and exhibitions ahead of the Olympics for nations looking to practice and get acclimated on U.S. soil. 'It's probably really the best cricket facility almost in the Americas because it's so iconic, so historic and so well located in terms of the wider Bay Area where there are all these cricket fans,' said Grave, who had initially hoped to bring cricket to the venue several years ago but couldn't make it work with the A's. Advertisement Grave brings decades of cricket experience, including most recently as CEO of Cricket West Indies, to the professional Twenty20 U.S. cricket league. Owners like Anurag Jain of the Super Kings share Grave's vision for growing the game domestically, considering now to be an ideal time to promote it with the L.A. Olympics ahead. "I never expected to see cricket at this level in the U.S., considering it's not a U.S. sport,' Ambrose said. 'Of course lots of cricket fans are living here in the U.S. and are very happy to see cricket in the U.S. as well so they don't always have to travel down to the Caribbean to watch cricket. It's my first time here watching MLC and I'm very impressed with the quality of cricket and I believe it's going to get bigger and better and maybe more Americans will come in and embrace it.' Matthew Tromp sure hopes that's the case. He's 20 with a long career ahead, currently playing for the Los Angeles Knight Riders. Tromp made his way into the Coliseum and instantly felt the building's baseball history. Advertisement "It was really awesome, I had goosebumps on my arms, it was like this is an incredible thing, cricket here,' Tromp said. 'Obviously, it's a different field to what I've been playing on, it's a little weird shaped. ... It's incredible. We're all loving it so far, we all think it's an incredible stadium as you can see by the games so far, high scoring, which is always good in cricket. "And there's also something in it for the bowlers as well. It feels like it's a fair game for both sides and everybody's excited for the future.' A future that Grave hopes will include opportunities for cricket players from the youth level, college, amateur and professional ranks. Players like Anthra Sayeram, an 8-year-old cricket enthusiast headed into third grade this fall in San Jose. She was among dozens of fans who waited patiently to meet Gilchrist. The girl's parents, father Sayeram Umasankar and mother Seema Venugopal, moved to the Bay Area from India in 2014 and are thrilled with structured training Anthra and other girls receive. The family traveled to Australia last December for the India-Australia test series. Advertisement 'We are huge cricket fans,' Umasankar said. 'We totally enjoyed Major League Cricket because staying so far away from India, we miss watching professional cricket live. I have played recreational cricket in leagues here and have built and led teams. The talent pool in USA is skyrocketing now to a different level over the last 10 years than it did before.' ___ AP cricket:
Associated Press
11-07-2025
- Sport
- Associated Press
Third-year Major League Cricket league hopes to keep growing the sport in US
OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — Australian cricket legend Adam Gilchrist had barely made it inside the Coliseum entrance when dozens of fans swarmed him, and he obliged every request for photos and autographs. Major League Cricket's week-long stop in the Bay Area last month had top officials in the sport thrilled with how the old Oakland Coliseum provides an ideal spot for the sport to thrive — even for major international competitions like World Cup and exhibition matches ahead of the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, when the sport makes its return for the first time in 100 years. 'I've been really pleased with the way it's been received,' Gilchrist said. 'Clearly, the South Asian community up to India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, that region, it's a religion there. And given the diaspora here and the number of South Asians in the community, I figured that they would have a keen following. It's great to see new faces to cricket.' Attendance for the opening weekend totaled more than 25,000 as the third-year, six-team league kicked off its season with great support in the Bay Area. Then, cricket scored another major victory June 29 in Dallas when the Texas Super Kings against MI New York drew a sellout of more than 6,100 with a standing-room only crowd at Grand Prairie Stadium — the largest regular-season attendance at that venue. It was the second-highest total for the sport at that venue behind the 2023 Championship Final. And new Major League Cricket CEO Johnny Grave is committed to keep growing cricket in the U.S. just a few months into his tenure, which has included a move from Antigua in the West Indies to Dallas. He dreams of the day when all ages and skill sets are involved. Curtly Ambrose, who retired 25 years ago, coaches at the highest levels at home in Antigua. He is hopeful cricket will catch on as a popular sport in the U.S. — and is encouraged by the support in the San Francisco area. 'Very, very unique because where I come from there are always traditional cricket stadiums. This is different, baseball stadium, drop-in surfaces. That is something that doesn't happen in cricket normally but the support is good and I have a feeling that this will get bigger and better.' In a city that has lost its three major professional sports teams over the past five years, cricket's Oakland stop certainly brought a festival-like atmosphere to the Coliseum — devoid of baseball for the first time since 1968 after the Athletics relocated to West Sacramento ahead of a planned move to Las Vegas. The dual-sport Coliseum — where the Oakland Roots soccer team now plays — is already a planned site for training and exhibitions ahead of the Olympics for nations looking to practice and get acclimated on U.S. soil. 'It's probably really the best cricket facility almost in the Americas because it's so iconic, so historic and so well located in terms of the wider Bay Area where there are all these cricket fans,' said Grave, who had initially hoped to bring cricket to the venue several years ago but couldn't make it work with the A's. Grave brings decades of cricket experience, including most recently as CEO of Cricket West Indies, to the professional Twenty20 U.S. cricket league. Owners like Anurag Jain of the Super Kings share Grave's vision for growing the game domestically, considering now to be an ideal time to promote it with the L.A. Olympics ahead. 'I never expected to see cricket at this level in the U.S., considering it's not a U.S. sport,' Ambrose said. 'Of course lots of cricket fans are living here in the U.S. and are very happy to see cricket in the U.S. as well so they don't always have to travel down to the Caribbean to watch cricket. It's my first time here watching MLC and I'm very impressed with the quality of cricket and I believe it's going to get bigger and better and maybe more Americans will come in and embrace it.' Matthew Tromp sure hopes that's the case. He's 20 with a long career ahead, currently playing for the Los Angeles Knight Riders. Tromp made his way into the Coliseum and instantly felt the building's baseball history. 'It was really awesome, I had goosebumps on my arms, it was like this is an incredible thing, cricket here,' Tromp said. 'Obviously, it's a different field to what I've been playing on, it's a little weird shaped. ... It's incredible. We're all loving it so far, we all think it's an incredible stadium as you can see by the games so far, high scoring, which is always good in cricket. 'And there's also something in it for the bowlers as well. It feels like it's a fair game for both sides and everybody's excited for the future.' A future that Grave hopes will include opportunities for cricket players from the youth level, college, amateur and professional ranks. Players like Anthra Sayeram, an 8-year-old cricket enthusiast headed into third grade this fall in San Jose. She was among dozens of fans who waited patiently to meet Gilchrist. The girl's parents, father Sayeram Umasankar and mother Seema Venugopal, moved to the Bay Area from India in 2014 and are thrilled with structured training Anthra and other girls receive. The family traveled to Australia last December for the India-Australia test series. 'We are huge cricket fans,' Umasankar said. 'We totally enjoyed Major League Cricket because staying so far away from India, we miss watching professional cricket live. I have played recreational cricket in leagues here and have built and led teams. The talent pool in USA is skyrocketing now to a different level over the last 10 years than it did before.' ___ AP cricket:
BBC News
12-06-2025
- Business
- BBC News
Major League Cricket 'not a threat' to Hundred now
Major League Cricket (MLC) chief executive Johnny Grave says the tournament should not be seen as a danger to The Hundred any third edition of the United States' franchise league starts on Friday at 02:00 BST when defending champions Washington Freedom face San Francisco emergence caused some uneasiness in English cricket with fears a clash with The Hundred would create a scramble for the best English and overseas relations between the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) and MLC have improved with both parties keen to work together so the tournaments do not overlap where possible.A number of American investors - including some with interests in MLC - are in the process of finalising deals to acquire stakes in franchise in The Hundred following the ECB sale earlier this year."The likes of England and Australia and India have had complete monopolies and global dominance," Grave told BBC Sport."There's always a bit of emotional threat from anything that's new that could destabilise what's been before."But I think now the relationship and communication with the ECB is great. Certainly, I don't think we [MLC] are a threat to the ECB." Washington Freedom will have Steve Smith, currently playing for Australia in the World Test Championship final against South Africa, available for two games of in the summer Smith will hook up with Welsh Fire for a stint in The Hundred. Freedom are owned by American-Indian IT entrepreneur Sanjay Govil, who also agreed a deal to buy a 50% stake in attended an informal meeting of global franchise owners at Lord's last week and is optimistic of an ongoing spirit of cooperation."I'm certainly philosophical around the need to coexist," said Englishman Grave, who previously held senior positions at Surrey and the Professional Cricketers' Association."Particularly with The Hundred and the Caribbean Premier League that exist closely to the window that we currently are in."MLC is really only interested in developing a home audience. We need to build a fan base in the United States."The reality is we'll be playing under lights at night in the US, so we're not really competing against the English product for English cricket fans." MLC cool interest in English players World Cup winner Liam Plunkett, who is married to an American and lives in Pennsylvania, will be the sole English representative in this year's MLC launched senior figures expressed a desire to lure some of England's top players to the tournament in the future, including Harry Brook and Ben acknowledged MLC's franchises appear to have cooled on that idea. "I don't think English players will be something that our teams are necessarily targeting," Grave added."They would be competing against the opportunities that exist for English players in their home market for them to stay at home and play in front of their friends and families."But I think certainly for players who want to look at opportunities abroad, then, I think MLC is a hugely exciting platform for them."
Time of India
12-06-2025
- Sport
- Time of India
WATCH: Oakland Coliseum readies for cricket with MLC 2025; drop-in pitches installed
Oakland Coliseum will host the first leg of the 2025 Major League Cricket season. (Sportzpics) Major League Cricket's third season will make history on Thursday night at the Oakland Coliseum in California, marking the first top-level cricket match on the US West Coast. The San Francisco Unicorns and Washington Freedom will face off in a rematch of the 2024 final, utilising drop-in pitches transported from New York in a venue that can accommodate over 60,000 spectators. The Coliseum, which previously hosted the Oakland Athletics (MLB) and Oakland Raiders (NFL), will operate at a reduced capacity of 12,000 for cricket matches. The venue will host the first nine matches of MLC 2025, including three home fixtures for the Unicorns. Go Beyond The Boundary with our YouTube channel. SUBSCRIBE NOW! The historic stadium, featured in the 2011 film Moneyball starring Brad Pitt, has been without permanent tenants since both professional teams relocated. The Athletics have temporarily moved to Sacramento while planning their eventual relocation to Las Vegas. The Unicorns initiated discussions with the Coliseum last year to bring cricket matches to the Bay Area. "We're going to be playing in Oakland this year and we're excited about playing in Oakland. We're still early in the process of figuring out where we'll end up permanently. The spectrum is pretty large. We can potentially play in Oakland permanently if everything goes well. We're in the process of figuring that piece out," said Unicorns co-owner Venky Harinarayan to when asked about playing in Oakland and the future. Johnny Grave, who joined as MLC chief executive after leading Cricket West Indies for seven years, has overseen the project to modify the 1966-built stadium for cricket matches. MLC: Venky Harinarayan on growing cricket in the USA, AI-driven teams and the Olympic boost "The Coliseum is a fantastic location for Major League Cricket, and we are thrilled by the prospect of some of the world's biggest cricket stars playing in such an iconic Californian venue. Coming to the West Coast, and being here in Oakland, is an historic move for cricket globally. It reinforces our commitment to growing the game in the United States and providing fans with an exceptional cricket experience," said Johnny Grave, CEO of Major League Cricket, in March. "The Oakland Coliseum has long been a destination for sports and entertainment, and we are excited to add cricket to its continuing legacy. This move underscores Oakland's status as a diverse and dynamic sports city, and we look forward to supporting the growth of cricket in our community," said Kevin Jenkins, Interim Mayor of the City of Oakland. The San Francisco Unicorns, who finished as runners-up in 2024, will play their first three home games at the Coliseum after spending two years at neutral venues. The tournament's schedule extends beyond Oakland, moving to Grand Prairie, Texas, from June 20 to 29, and concluding at Broward County Stadium, Florida, from July 1st to 6th. With 34 matches across three venues, this will be the largest professional cricket tournament ever held in the USA. READ | A look at the venues in MLC Major League Cricket has announced that the league will provide a $3 million direct economic boost to Oakland, which becomes the first west-coast city to host top-level cricket. MLC 2025 Season details: First leg: June 12 – June 18 at the Oakland Coliseum Second leg: June 20-29 at Grand Prairie, Texas Third leg: June 1-6 at Broward County Stadium, Florida Knockouts: July 8 - 13 at Grand Prairie, Texas
Hindustan Times
08-06-2025
- Business
- Hindustan Times
USA Cricket declares bold new era, sets sight on full ICC membership, game-changing expansion plans around LA Olympics
From being the CEO of Cricket West Indies for seven years to now leading Major League Cricket (MLC), Johnny Grave's new mission could redefine the global cricketing order. And in less than half a year into his new role, the Englishman has hit the ground running. Grave has already overseen MLC's expansion to three active venues for 2025, pulling off a coup by securing the Oakland Coliseum as a host ground. 'We've got to be ready with cricket in America to capitalize on that, both in terms of the greater enthusiasm it will generate at the grassroots level, in the schools and the colleges, and also in terms of the fan base, and not making it just a one-off,' he told Cricbuzz. As MLC gears up for a pivotal few years with the LA28 Olympics on the horizon, Grave believes America is sitting on an untapped goldmine. But transforming that promise into permanence will take more than showpiece events. 'How do we take those fans from the Olympics and move them through into becoming really sticky and engaged cricket fans, and actually getting them to actively support our MLC teams and the US national teams, because we need those teams to build their own fan bases,' said Grave. Grave is also looking to reshape the grassroots structure and revenue model for Minor League Cricket (MiLC), which currently runs on personal investment from private owners. 'We have had really positive talks with the owners about redefining the business model for Minor League to help ensure it becomes more sustainable, both from a league perspective and the individual teams,' he said. 'There is definitely value within Minor League and we've seen that in the last few months, with ownership changing, different investors coming into the individual teams.' Player development is also at the heart of Grave's blueprint. With full-time earnings for the majority of American cricketers still meagre, his aim is to establish a structure where pursuing cricket professionally is financially viable. 'We've had really good discussions with the US players' union. We're probably going to be the first league in the US to sign an agreement with the players' union… what USA-based cricketers are earning now compared to their Associate Member counterparts would be significantly ahead of any other team,' he said. Grave believes USA Cricket could soon make a strong case for full ICC membership, if it fixes its governance flaws. 'I think USA Cricket already has a very compelling case to become an ICC full member… The one concern I think the game of cricket might have would be the ongoing governance challenges that the board has faced over pretty much all of its recent history,' he noted. His understanding of ICC systems, gained through his years at the helm of a full-member board, could be key in lobbying for a unique pathway. 'Certainly everything that we're planning to do with Minor League Cricket and expanding the academy network, and with MLC already a premier domestic T20 tournament on the global stage… it is only going to assist the case.' Grave isn't just building a league. He's helping awaken a sleeping giant. And if the plans take shape, American cricket may soon do more than just catch up—it might well start leading the conversation.
