It’s not a last-minute venue swap for the league’s fourth season. The brand-new Fairplex ground is a purpose-built test bed for cricket’s long-awaited LA28 debut, designed from the ground up to scale between regular season play and global competition. Officials broke ground this spring with clear event alignment, turning a long-talked-about pipeline into tangible infrastructure built months before the torch even arrives in LA.
Launch Timing Explained
Most previews of MLC’s fourth season frame the Fairplex venue as a simple schedule swap, Pomona in, Lauderhill out. On March 19, 2026, the Knight Riders Group announced it had leased Fairplex land to build the Knight Riders Cricket Ground, the first venue in league history built and owned by a franchise rather than rented for a single season.
Groundbreaking followed on April 22 and 23, with ICC chief executive Sanjog Gupta, LA28 representative Niccolò Campriani, Pomona mayor Tim Sandoval, and Knight Riders CEO Venky Mysore all in attendance. Gupta referred to the site as cricket’s permanent home for LA28. That framing, not the schedule footnote, is the real story of this build.
MLC 2026 Pomona Stadium Olympics
The venue’s role in the global games is locked in, not speculative. Cricket returns to the Olympic program after 128 years at LA 2028, running July 12 through 29, with the Knight Riders Cricket Ground confirmed as the primary venue for the six-team men’s and women’s T20 tournaments.
Roughly 10,000 seats will be available for MLC matches this summer, with an expansion to 15,000 seats planned for the Games. ICC chairman Jay Shah called the groundbreaking a milestone for cricket’s 2.5 billion global fans. Co-owner Shah Rukh Khan noted the build brings cricket directly into Los Angeles’ core sporting identity.
Detail | Specification |
Official Venue Name | Knight Riders Cricket Ground, Fairplex, Pomona, CA |
Groundbreaking Date | April 22–23, 2026 |
Construction Cost | $21 million, modular build design |
2026 MLC Match Capacity | Approx. 10,000 seats |
2028 Game Capacity | Expanded to 15,000 seats |
2026 Home Matches | 7 total, including LAKR’s first three home fixtures, July 1–5 |
Replaced Venue | Broward County Stadium, Lauderhill, FL |
2028 Event Role | Primary cricket venue, July 12–29, 2028 |
ACE Lifetime Investment | $150 million+ in US cricket since 2019 |
ACE 2030 Target | 10 international-standard venues nationwide |
On-Site Facility Details
The ground sits at 1101 W McKinley Ave on land owned by the Los Angeles County Fair Association, with the Knight Riders Group operating the cricket facility under a long-term partnership. It hosts seven MLC 2026 matches between July 1 and 12, including LA Knight Riders’ first three home fixtures from July 1 to 5, with a doubleheader scheduled for Independence Day.
Compared to other core league venues, Pomona enters the season smaller and newer. Grand Prairie Stadium in Texas hosts 15 matches as the league’s primary anchor venue, while the Oakland Coliseum welcomes playoff and final matches this year. The Pomona site will operate as a relatively barebones match space in 2026, ahead of full Olympic-standard upgrades before 2028.
National Investment Pipeline
The Pomona build is part of a far larger national infrastructure push. American Cricket Enterprises, MLC’s lead investor, has put more than $150 million into domestic cricket development since 2019, covering league operations, training facilities, and permanent venues in Texas, North Carolina, Florida, and now California.
MLC CEO Johnny Grave has confirmed plans to invest at least that same amount again in the coming years, targeting 10 international-standard venues across the country by 2030. Similar venue projects are already in progress for the Seattle Orcas and Washington Freedom. That push moves forward even as USA Cricket, the sport’s national governing body, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy amid ACE governance disputes, showing misalignment between the sport’s commercial and administrative tracks.
Long-Term Pilot Value
Pomona functions far more as a long-term test site than a one-off venue replacement. Two full MLC seasons will run on the ground before the Olympics begin, letting crews test the same outfield, pitches, and event operations staff that will run the 2028 competition under real, high-stakes match conditions. That lead time is a luxury no other proposed Olympic cricket host venue has ever had.
As the first tangible link between regular domestic league play and LA28 competition, MLC 2026 Pomona stadium Olympics preparations have created a reusable blueprint that US cricket venues will replicate as the network expands. If ACE hits its 2030 target of 10 national venues, Fairplex won’t be a rare standout for domestic cricket. It will be the standard every new build is measured against.
Do you think this purpose-built Pomona ground will help US cricket close the gap with established cricket nations ahead of 2028? Drop your take in the comments.
FAQs
What is the seating capacity for league play at the new Fairplex cricket ground?
The initial modular build seats roughly 10,000 fans for regular-season matches. Capacity will grow by 5,000 seats ahead of the 2028 global tournament.
Which US city will host cricket events during the 2028 Summer Games?
Los Angeles will host all T20 cricket matches during the 2028 Games. The Pomona Fairplex site is locked in as the primary competition venue.
How much has MLC’s parent investor group spent on US cricket infrastructure to date?
American Cricket Enterprises has invested over $150 million since 2019. The group plans to match that total to build a nationwide venue network by 2030.
Which venue did Pomona replace on the 2026 league schedule?
Pomona takes the spot previously held by Broward County Stadium in Lauderhill, Florida. The Florida venue will not host any regular-season matches this year.
Disclaimer: This blog post reflects the author’s personal insights and analysis. Readers are encouraged to consider the perspectives shared and draw their own conclusions.