Oakland Coliseum, residence of Major League Baseball’s (MLB) Oakland Athletics and previously the NFL’s Oakland Raiders, has emerged as a potential venue for the 2024 Men’s T20 World Cup, to be co-hosted by the USA and the West Indies. The ICC CEO Geoff Allardice and improvement head Will Glenwright met with USA Cricket officers in California lately the place the thought – rumoured since final yr – gained traction.
Though the Oakland Coliseum, which opened in 1966, lacks most of the luxurious facilities present in most outside American stadiums constructed for the reason that flip of the millennium, it has two main options which enchantment to cricket directors. The location, within the East Bay of northern California simply north of the Silicon Valley, is residence to a burgeoning native grassroots cricket scene in addition to a deep-pocketed expatriate cricket fan base that directors are hoping to faucet into.
However, for the Oakland Coliseum to host matches a number of logistical hurdles will have to be overcome. It’s location within the Pacific time zone means it might be unlikely to host an India-Pakistan match as a result of an 8pm primetime begin on TV in India would imply a 7.30 am begin in California. But the venue might be a great alternative for the late recreation in a double- or triple-header on a given day, which might probably function one other heavyweight conflict comparable to England-Australia to go well with UK primetime.
Another impediment is the June slot at present scheduled for the occasion, which falls proper in the midst of baseball season. It would imply that the Coliseum’s availability can be depending on the Athletics and MLB agreeing to schedule a 10-14 day street journey for the Athletics round that point to permit cricket officers time to prepared it for the T20 World Cup, together with the set up of a drop-in pitch. That timeline would permit not more than two or three matches on the venue.
However, Oakland Coliseum’s unique design as a shared baseball and soccer facility signifies that for baseball functions, it has by far the most important foul territory in MLB with the closest seats scaled again a appreciable distance from the sector. For cricket functions, it signifies that sq. boundaries can be proper on the borderline of satisfying the ICC’s minimal boundary dimensions of 55 meters. If a extra thorough inspection determines that the boundaries wind up simply wanting the ICC minimal, officers might enchantment for an ICC exemption in the identical method as Auckland’s Eden Park for what can be a one-of-a-kind alternative to host an unprecedented variety of followers for a match in America.
To reveal the viability of Oakland Coliseum, native directors are exploring the thought of probably internet hosting exhibition matches earlier than the top of 2023. If such an exhibition had been to go forward, it might most probably be held within the October-November window following the conclusion of the baseball season, although no agency plans have been made at this stage.