The stadium, which is set to host three of India’s matches, is likely to be ready only by the end of May
Nagraj Gollapudi
Eisenhower Park in New York will not host any international matches before the T20 World Cup in June as the ground will only be ready by the end of May. The venue is scheduled to host three of India’s matches in the upcoming tournament.
Announcing detailed plans on Wednesday for the New York stadium, which will become cricket’s first modular stadium, the ICC also said tickets for the 20-team World Cup, which will be co-hosted by the West Indies and the US, it will be released in the next fortnight.
Eisenhower Park, located in Nassau County (Long Island) and approximately 25 miles east of New York City, was recently selected by the ICC as one of three venues in the U.S. along with Grand Prairie (Texas) and County Broward (Lauderhill, FL) to host 16 group stage games. Half of those matches – eight – will be hosted at Eisenhower Park, including the India-Pakistan match on June 9.
While the first match in New York is scheduled for June 3 – between South Africa and Sri Lanka – the ICC has planned to hold the test phase of the ground, including drop pitches, in the second fortnight of May. It will likely be the first time that a major ICC event will be held at a venue where no international match has been played before.
However, such a prospect does not cause the ICC any anxiety. Chris Tetley, the ICC’s head of events, said the test phase, which is scheduled to begin the week of May 13 and will include warm-up matches, will give organizers a better understanding of the venue before the World Cup starts.
“There will be warm-up matches at the (New York) facility so we know from a cricket perspective how the ground works,” Tetley said. “Also, it is important that we will know from an operational perspective how all the functional groups that will come together to operate the stadium must interact on an event day with people coming through the turnstiles.
“Part of that is understanding how people go through the turnstiles and where are they going, how are they using the space, where are they walking? Because that will then help us improve the designs for spectator flows and where we need additional signage, where the people get confused, where do they gather?’
Currently, the outfield at the existing cricket ground at Eisenhower Park is “bumpy”, Tetley admitted, but also said work on the stadium had started this month with a timetable to complete the project by mid May, when the testing phase will begin.
A number of drop-in pitches are currently being prepared in Florida by Adelaide Oval Turf Solutions, led by Damian Hough, the head groundskeeper at Adelaide Oval. The outfield, meanwhile, is being built by LandTek Group, a US-based turf construction company that has prepared pitches for the New York Yankees, New York Mets and Inter Miami CF.
In addition, Populous, a world-renowned architecture and design firm has been hired to design the stadium at Eisenhower Park, which will seat approximately 34,000 fans. Having such trusted hands involved, Tetley pointed out, gave the ICC the “assurance” and confidence that any last-minute hiccups could be ironed out without stress.
“Apart from the event trials we are reassured by the quality of the people involved and the quality of the work they do every day: from Damian (Hough) on the pitches and the number of pitches he builds. , which gives us a bit of flexibility in case one of the pitches doesn’t go as well as we want, we can switch so that we’re not relying on a no-delay solution.
“LandTek work with Damian on all the agronomic aspects of the facility. From a cricketing point of view, it’s those we’re most interested in getting the quality right, because that’s fundamental.”
MLC looks using modular stage
A modular stadium is made of steel and aluminum, erected in a short period of time (about three months in the case of Eisenhower Park) and is adaptable. The amenities in a regular cricket ground can be easily replicated, including fan seats, corporate boxes, dressing rooms and all other avenues of hospitality and general amenities alongside media and broadcast facilities.
Formula 1 has widely used modular stages around the world and some of the infrastructure used during the Las Vegas Grand Prix will recently be deployed in the grandstand construction at Eisenhower Park. Golf has used articulated bases including last year’s Ryder Cup in Rome.
The ICC will use modular stadium solutions to double capacity at both of the other US venues for the T20 World Cup – Texas and Florida. After the World Cup, Tetley said modular stadiums can be taken down easily.
However, Tetley indicated that Major League Cricket (MLC) was “assessing” whether it could use the modular stadiums at the three US venues for the second season scheduled for July-August.
“MLC is actually very interested in the opportunity this would give them to play some of their second season matches. So right now they’re evaluating whether it’s going to work for them. It’s a live discussion right now, but in theory, yes, everything is falling apart.”
Tetley said the key “legacy” the World Cup will leave for the local cricket community in New York will be an international stadium next to a well-equipped central square without the pitches.
“One of the legacies of the project is that what we will leave behind is a world-class cricket ground of international standards. We will actually take out the drop-in pitches and leave them with an artificial surface in the middle there, because that will be much easier for them to maintain.
“The drop in pitches, we’ll determine where they go and who will benefit best from them. Obviously we’re also creating training facilities that will be left behind.”
Nagraj Gollapudi is a news editor at ESPNcricinfo