This one went right through the wickets.
Mayor Eric Adams whiffed on his effort to host next year’s World Club Cricket Cup games in the Big Apple, as a park in Nassau County was chosen late Wednesday to host the global event over a spot in the five boroughs.
City Hall tried to hold the games in Van Cortlandt Park in The Bronx, but New York’s bid went down in flames as the location faced fierce opposition from local leaders who didn’t want want their beloved green space converted into a 34,000 square foot temporary cricket stadium.
Instead, Nassau’s Eisenhower Park was picked as one of three U.S. locations to host next year’s World Cup Cricket games, along with Dallas, Tex. and Broward County, Fla.
The failure of the city’s Bronx bid was hailed by some borough leaders.
“The people of the Bronx have defeated an unprecedented attempt by the City of New York to desecrate Van Cortland Park with a massive cricket stadium and transfer public parkland to a private entity for purely private use—all in violation of the Public Trust Doctrine,” said Bronx Congressman Ritchie Torres.
Adams touted his plans to bring the so-called “world’s second most popular sport” to the Bronx in during a City Hall event in July.
“Absolutely bowled over to host the Cricket World Cup at City Hall yesterday! Cricket is the world’s 2nd most popular sport, and it’s only fitting the cup comes to the world’s most international city,” the mayor said then.
But his proposal ran into a buzzsaw of opposition from local residents and elected officials who said Van Cortlandt was not a suitable site.
“Good!,” cheered state Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz (D-Bronx) after hearing Wednesday of Nassau winning the bid.
“We opposed using Van Cortlandt Park from the very beginning. It was not a well thought out proposal.”
Dinowitz said the city would have needed the state Legislature to approve a law to redirect the use of 20 acres at Van Cortland for a cricket stadium, and he wouldn’t allow it.
“I applaud the mayor for wanting to bring a global event to the city — but Van Cortlandt Park was not the place to do it,” he said.
Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman said: “Nassau County is excited to partner with the ICC [International Cricket Council] to host the Men’s T20 World Cup, one of the most popular sporting events in the world.”
He said Nassau’s growing cricket-crazed Indian-American and Pakistani-American communities backed the proposal.
“They are over the moon happy,” Blakeman said.
Despite the opposition, it was not clear why the city’s Bronx bid was rejected. Bowled over City Hall was gracious in defeat.
“Congratulations to Nassau County on their selection as a host for the 2024 T20 Cricket World Cup. New York City put forward a competitive bid reflective of the diversity of our city and the countless immigrant communities who call it home, and we appreciate their support,” said mayoral spokeswoman Amaris Cockfield.
The U.S. will be staging a global cricket event for the first time as the baseball-like bat -and-ball sport looks to expand its footprint and get Olympic status for the 2028 Los Angeles Games. America will co-host the June 4-30 tournament with the West Indies.
International Cricket Council Chief Executive Geoff Allardice said “We explored a number of potential venue options in the country, and we were hugely encouraged by the enthusiasm the event generated amongst prospective hosts, reinforcing the growing awareness around cricket’s massive fanbase and its power to unite diverse communities.”