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The ICC Men’s T20 Cricket World Cup is being held in the United States, with all eyes on the clash between India and Pakistan on June 9th at the 34,000-capacity Nassau County International Cricket Stadium in New York, but there are other highlights as well. There’s a match. The opening game of the tournament will be historic for North America, as the hosts will take on Canada at Grand Prairie in Dallas, the setting for the successful opening of Major League Cricket last July. Almost forgotten in the storm of breaking news is his third of his three facilities in the United States, Florida’s Broward County Stadium (now Central Broward Park & Broward County Stadium). (Renamed Stadium).
Just over 20 years ago, in an interview with the New York Times, then-Louderhill Mayor Richard Kaplan was adamant about his ambitions to develop cricket in the city. “” There’s not much that distinguishes Lauderhill from many other cities. Cricket will put us on the map. “One day Lauderhill will be known as the cricket capital of the United States,” said Kaplan, who has written a book on the history of cricket in the United States.
In 2007, a project within the Central Broward Park complex was completed at a construction cost of $70 million. It became the first US-based cricket venue to be officially accredited by the International Cricket Council and hosted the first international match between Sri Lanka and New Zealand in 2010.
There were some bigotry issues when the stadium came under fire from local media and tax-paying South Florida residents for being too passive for its intended purpose. The Sun Sentinel, the county’s main newspaper, said that while other sports such as women’s soccer, World Cup rugby qualifiers and the semi-professional gridiron league were using the facility instead, “Broward built it, but cricket won’t.” It ran the headline “No.” Kaplan himself wrote a scathing letter to ICC chief executive David Richardson in 2013, criticizing the United States Cricket Association for failing to promote stadiums for major cricket matches.
“After several years of low usage by our cricket sanctioning organization, USACA, the City of Lauderhill and Broward County have had to consider other alternative uses for the stadium to sell tickets to fill seats.” the mayor wrote at the time.
Eventually, the situation improved with more high-profile visitors. In 2016, India played their first series in America against the West Indies at Lauderhill, with both matches drawing to sold-out houses. India coach Anil Kumble lavished praise on the facility. “It is remarkable that the attendance for the first-ever international match played by an Indian team in America was the same as the attendance for the 1844 cricket match between the United States and Canada, the first international sporting event in the modern world. It’s a coincidence,” exclaimed the BBCI president. The lucrative Caribbean Premier League also used the stadium for group stages.
The Indian team returned to the ground in 2019, 2022 and last year too and played against the same opponents. South Florida has strong ties to the Caribbean, with many Jamaicans, Guyanese, and Trinidadians living in the area. Former West Indian spinner Lance Gibbs also gave the project much-needed credibility.
An estimated 45,000 visitors are expected to descend on Broward County as the World T20 draws near, with two of the four games scheduled to be played there featuring two of the biggest cricket powers, India and Pakistan, drawing an estimated 2,000 visitors. They are rebelling against the fact that they are attracting more TV viewers. 400 million in previous 50-over ICC World Cup tournaments. The national team will also play against the Irish national team. As a preview of the main event, a 400-pound, 8-foot-tall replica of the official ICC T20 World Cup cricket ball will be touring various locations around Greater Fort Lauderdale.
Last month, Central Broward Park and Broward County Stadium underwent an $8.4 million renovation to provide infrastructure in time for the first-ever World Cup game between Sri Lanka and Nepal on June 11. It was announced that it would be carried out. “We’re increasing the number of seats to about 8,150,” said Dan West, director of Broward Parks and Recreation. “In addition, we’ve brought in a third party to build temporary seats, increasing the number of seats to about 10,000. We plan to have ~12,000 seats.” Statement received by The Florida News.
The park, known for its diverse cultural and music festivals, will be closed from early April to mid-July as preparations begin for the T20 tournament. Broward County Commissioner Hazel Rogers estimates the tournament will have an economic value of about $40 million to $50 million, and the impact on the local economy is expected to be large.
Cricket is the second most watched sport after soccer, and the implications for Lauderhill as the cricket capital of the United States are no longer a pipe dream. Kaplan’s vision almost becomes reality when the first ball is thrown.
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