There's no fire in the fireplace,There's no carpet on the floor,Don't try to order dinner,There's no kitchen anymore.But if the road's been kinda bumpyAnd you need to rest a spell,Welcome home, to the Happiness Hotel!
The next leap forward for Major League Cricket will start a lot like the last one - in an abandoned baseball stadium.
Of course, this one didn't have $20 million in renovations before they got to it. The stairwells flood, the seats are in rough shape, there are possums in the ceiling and feral cats in the outfield, and the bellhops look like rats. (You should see the chambermaids.)
While there are ambitious plans for the future of the site, Oakland Coliseum's best days are about 20 years behind it, if not 25. By American sports facility standards, the Coliseum might as well be a ruin. They called it Baseball's Last Dive Bar for a reason, although it's likely to be light work for anyone coming from Indian stadium experiences.
The future of American cricket probably doesn't have a home in these marsupial and feline-populated halls, but the June residency in Oakland, which opens tonight with Washington and San Francisco, is a great litmus test for what MLC's next step needs to look like.
If the San Francisco Unicorns draw 12,000 for any of their three true home games - the capacity MLC has set for its use of the space - then it's a massive triumph for the league to start off season three. It shows that the awkward means by which the league has started, with Texas having a home stadium and the other five squads essentially being travel teams (which, for those unfamiliar with American sports parlance, is a label you DO NOT want), hasn't dulled the potential of the brands and may have actually even worked somewhat in the league's favor by generating genuine yearning for these teams to take root.
It would also be an indicator that the league has real momentum with its franchises, and stadiums may find more receptive ears in some markets if the Oakland venture is a success. The Unicorns could potentially jump in with the African American Sports and Entertainment Group, which is seeking to redevelop the Coliseum site to better suit local soccer teams. Washington is kicking tires on stadiums at the Commanders' new campus as well as in nearby Frederick, Maryland. Knight Riders Group is quietly pursuing options in the greater Los Angeles area ahead of the 2028 Summer Olympics and has had a couple of near misses. Seattle has been bouncing around trying to find something - Sanjay Partasarathy told KOMO in Seattle that he hopes to have something in place by those same Olympics, when cricket is due for another showcase event on American shores.
And if it’s a disaster? Well, that’s important information, too. It means the franchises need to develop a ground game in their planned hometowns. Partnering with local bars for watch parties with some kind of team marketing presence for prize giveaways; maybe each team sends four people to Grand Prairie all expenses paid, or bring the players to the cities they ostensibly represent for more fan engagement efforts. Or do all of the above! Scared money don't make money, as the saying goes, and MLC franchises may need to pony up some extra cash to get people invested and generate popular will to help smooth out a stadium deal. Marketing is not just billboards and boosted Instagram posts, and when even a small fan base can go a long way, making it feel personal is the best way to get folks onside.
Ultimately, success in Oakland will be determined on three things: the size of the crowds, their willingness to watch cricket on the meat grinder drop-in pitches from Eisenhower Park last summer, and whether the game is interrupted by wildlife - although Danny Morrison trying to wrangle a possum in the booth while calling a game would justify my Willow subscription for June. If all else fails, MLC can sneak out in the middle of the night. It's a very popular choice at the Coliseum.
Thank you for reading Stumps & Stripes! I’m kicking off this project that has been rolling around in my head for a few weeks right as the Major League Cricket season begins, giving this newsletter a natural launchpad to build out from. If you’re here for MLC coverage, check out my full-length preview of the 2025 season at the link below.
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In our next piece on Stumps & Stripes, why Nicholas Pooran’s New York captaincy is the right call as his club find themselves in a sudden bind. Join me again!