Cricket Set for Olympic Return as Los Angeles Builds Dedicated Stadium

It’s been 126 years since cricket — the second most watched sport in the world — made an appearance in the Olympics. That drought will end in 2028 when Los Angeles hosts the Summer Games.

Construction has begun in Pomona, located on the eastern edge of Los Angeles County, where ground was broken Wednesday for a 10,000-plus capacity premier cricket stadium. The venue will host both men’s and women’s Olympic cricket competitions, each featuring six teams.

The stadium is being built at the Fairplex fairgrounds and will serve as home to the Los Angeles Knight Riders, a professional Major League Cricket team owned by Mumbai-based Knight Riders Sports. Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan is a co-leader of the ownership group. The groundbreaking ceremony began with a traditional “bhumi pujan,” a Hindu ritual seeking divine blessings before disturbing the earth for construction.

Cricket already enjoys significant following among U.S. diaspora communities, particularly those from South Asia where the sport is followed with religious fervor. For cricket enthusiasts, coaches, and players across the country, a dedicated cricket stadium in a major sports market like Southern California represents a landmark achievement.

“People who watch the Olympics are not necessarily cricket fans,” said Venky Mysore, CEO of Knight Riders Sports. “When cricket becomes an Olympic sport, that takes interest and awareness to the next level.” Mysore is convinced of the sport’s commercial potential in America.

Knight Riders Sports operates multiple teams worldwide — in India, the Caribbean, and the United Arab Emirates. However, the Pomona venue marks the first stadium they have built from scratch. Currently, only three international-level cricket stadiums exist in the United States, located in Texas, Florida, and North Carolina, with other matches played in multi-purpose venues like the Oakland Coliseum.

Peter Della Penna, who has covered cricket in the U.S. for two decades, notes this will be the first time an international cricket event in America will have a purpose-built venue that remains after the competition. While a modular stadium was constructed for the 2024 T20 World Cup in New York, it was dismantled after the tournament.

“Cricket players would want to be in the Olympic Village, walk shoulder to shoulder with U.S. track and field athletes, swimmers and basketball players,” Della Penna explained. “Cricketers in America have not had such prominence and U.S. cricket really needs that.”

Cricket’s history in America stretches back further than many realize. The first international cricket match was played between the U.S. and Canada in 1844 at St. George’s Cricket Club in Manhattan, where Canada narrowly defeated the U.S. before thousands of spectators.

A significant milestone came in 2024 when the U.S. national team achieved a stunning upset over Pakistan during the T20 World Cup. According to cricket historian Debjit Lahiri, Olympic cricket was last played in 1900 in Paris when the Summer Games were essentially a sideshow to the World’s Fair.

Cricket in Los Angeles dates back to around 1900 with local clubs. The sport gained prominence in the 1930s with the formation of the Hollywood Cricket Club by British expatriate actors including Errol Flynn, Laurence Olivier, Cary Grant, and Boris Karloff. Ironically, the club’s original Griffith Park location was demolished to make way for an equestrian center for the 1984 Olympics.

For aspiring cricketers like 22-year-old Ayan Desai, a rising star who hopes to represent Team USA in 2028, the new stadium represents a dream opportunity. “To play the Olympics is special, but to do it in front of your home crowd, in your home city, that would be amazing,” said Desai, who plays for the Seattle Orcas major league team and has competed in four international games with the U.S. national team.

Despite the optimism, challenges remain for cricket’s sustainability in America. Reggie Benjamin, a former U.S. cricketer and longtime coach based in Los Angeles, expressed skepticism: “I’m happy to see cricket get an opportunity to showcase itself here. But if you can’t get average Americans to come to a game and sit in the stands for three hours, or if you can’t get American kids to play cricket, the game is not going to grow.”

Administrative troubles have also plagued U.S. cricket. Last year, USA Cricket filed for bankruptcy protection after terminating a contract with American Cricket Enterprises, which created Major League Cricket. The International Cricket Council has since temporarily assumed management of the U.S. national team.

Walter Marquez, CEO of the Fairplex, remains optimistic about cricket’s potential to capture American audiences. Though primarily a baseball fan, Marquez has been learning cricket terminology and sees similarities that could appeal to American sports fans.

“For those who don’t know cricket, given an opportunity, they will learn what an exciting game it is,” Marquez said, referring to the T20 format that will be used in the 2028 Olympics. “We like home runs. We love the long ball. Cricket has a lot of those. American sports fans just don’t know they’re cricket fans yet.”