The USA team created history by beating Bangladesh in a T20I series ©USA Cricket
'Jo bhi karna hain bada karna hain! (Aim for the stars, always!) We want to build something that will outlive our lifetimes' quipped MLC (Major League Cricket) co-founder Sameer Mehta, the co-founder of American Cricket Enterprise in 2019 after winning the rights to own and operate a T20 league in USA. It is understood that the bid was unanimously approved by all the sitting directors at USA Cricket at the time over bids from industry incumbents including some of the IPL franchises.
What was the catch? ACE inked the deal based on their intent to build cricketing infrastructure in the country, which was virtually non-existent in the country. The erstwhile USACA had zero turf wickets under their ambit in their half a century long existence. The ACE proposal further promised to leverage that infrastructure to build cricketing ecosystems and pathways.
Much like their peers at GT20 (Canada) or the now-defunct Euro T20, ACE had a chance to launch a flaky T20 league, ensuring a revenue stream right from the onset. But they went down a different route, taking a bottom-to-top approach, the group made heavy investments in setting up academies and turf wicket grounds across the country. The launch of MLC was preceded by the inception of the Minor League (MiLC), a 26-team pathway franchise tournament that now underpins the MLC. ACE launched the MLC, after 2 successful MiLC seasons had laid the initial groundwork and 4 years after clinching the winning bid.
While the world watches American cricket basking in the
