The Los Angeles Knight Riders are opening the team’s new cricket ground Wednesday in Pomona, marking a major step for the sport in the United States as anticipation builds for its inclusion in the 2028 Olympics.
The Knight Riders Cricket Ground, located at the Fairplex in the eastern LA County community, is the Major League Cricket team’s first permanent home after the previous three seasons were played at temporary fields. The Knight Riders’ first match at the new venue was scheduled for 6:30 p.m. against he Washington Freedom.
“We are the second biggest sport in the world, just not big in the U.S. here yet,” said Major League Cricket CEO Johnny Grave. “It’s part of our mission to grow the sport in the country.”
The purpose-built cricket ground came together about 100 days after groundbreaking. Crews moved about 32,000 metric tons of earth to shape the area, much larger that a Major League Baseball or NFL field.
“It’s about 200,000 square feet of an outfield,” said John Sulinski, of contractors LandTek.
The venue is in its first construction phase. Near year, Phase 2 will include a practice and training center. Phase 3 will be a revamp in preparation for the 2028 Olympics and the long-awaited return of the bat-and-ball sport.
Cricket was last featured as an Olympic sport at the 1900 Paris Olympics.
The Knight Riders are in their fourth season in the six-team league. There are plans to expand in the coming years.
“The second-most watched sport in the world coming to the No. 1 market in the world, especially in a market like SoCal, gives us an opportunity and platform to built something special,” Knight Rider Group CEO Venky Mysore.
Knight Riders Sports operates teams worldwide in India, the Caribbean and the United Arab Emirates. The Pomona venue is the only stadium the group has built from the ground up. Other international-level cricket stadiums in the U.S. are in Texas, Florida and North Carolina.
The sport also is played at multi-purpose venues in the U.S.
When are the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics?
The Olympics will return to Los Angeles for an historic third time in 2028.
The LA 2028 Olympics Opening Ceremony is July 14, 2028 with competition through July 30, 2028. The LA28 Paralympic Games will kick off Aug. 15, 2028 and close Aug. 27, 2028.
The organizing committee has released a first look at the competition schedule. Field hockey, basketball, rugby sevens, water polo, handball and cricket will be the first sports to kick off the competition on July 12, two days before the Opening Ceremony.
The first full date of competition, designated Day 1, is July 15. The order of events includes a twist for 2028 with track and field and swimming swapping their typical schedules. Track and field will compete at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in the first week of the Olympics schedule with swimming moving to the second week at SoFi Stadium.
The marathons will still be on the final weekend.
The first medal will be awarded in triathlon on Day 1 in Venice Beach. July 29, or Day 15, will be the busiest day on the podium with 16 gold and bronze events in team sports and 19 individual medal events.
Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in Exposition Park and SoFi Stadium in Inglewood will host the opening ceremony in a duel-venue celebration. The Paralympic opening ceremony will be at SoFi Stadium with the closing ceremony at the Coliseum.
Images: See venues planned for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics
New for the 2028 Olympics
The program approved for 2028 has 22 more medal events than Paris 2024 at 351.
Mixed team events added for 2028 include artistic gymnastics, athletics (4×100 mixed gender relay), golf, archery (compound bow), coastal rowing beach sprint and table tennis. The competition format for the new artistic gymnastic mixed team event will be finalized and announced at a later date.
The medal competition includes expansions to the field of women’s soccer and water polo event, a new women’s boxing weight class, an expanded 3×3 basketball field, and more medal events in swimming and sport climbing.
Flag football will make its Olympic debut in 2028 and lacrosse will return to the lineup of medal sports for the first time in more than a century. Baseball and softball will make their Olympic comeback, and cricket also will be part of the lineup.
See the full list of medal events here.