Oakland Coliseum’s capacity is more than twice that of the currently available Cricket Stadiums in the USA.
The 2024 Men’s T20 World Cup is to be co-hosted by the USA and the West Indies. Hence, the Oakland Coliseum has come up as a potential venue for the tournament. This stadium is the home of Major League Baseball’s Oakland Athletics and formerly the NFL’s Oakland Raiders. The ICC officials have already met with the USA Cricket officials in California recently where the discussion on the same occurred.
The attractive location and the overall capacity are the two major features of the Oakland Coliseum that have appealed to cricket administrators. The location of stadium is home to a grassroots cricket scene and also an expatriate fan base, which can be tapped into. This stadium can hold up to 53000 fans, more than twice that of currently available cricket stadiums in the USA. Baseball stadiums have already hosted cricket exhibition matches earlier when the Cricket All-Stars T20 Tour was played between Sachin Tendulkar and Shane Warne’s teams in 2015 in New York, Houston, and Los Angeles.
Challenges of hosting 2024 T20 WC at Oakland Coliseum
Despite these major features, this stadium needs to avoid some key hurdles for hosting the World Cup matches properly. Time zone will be an issue for telecasting the matches as the stadium is located in the Pacific time zone. However, this stadium can be suited for a double-header or triple-header on the same day as it can suit the UK primetime.
Another obstacle can be the availability of this stadium as the event can fall right in the middle of a baseball season. Cricket officials need to be allowed the installation of drop-in pitches. On the whole, not more than two or three matches can get considered at the same venue.
This venue is actually designed as per the baseball and football guidelines. Therefore, square boundaries need to be revised as per requirement. Local administrators are looking to consider this venue for the T20 World Cup depending on its viability. They are even planning to host some exhibition matches by the end of 2023 for a clear idea of how to proceed. If it gets permitted, then such exhibition matches will happen during the October-November window after the conclusion of the baseball season.
