Major League Cricket (MLC) is the United States' professional T20 cricket league, a six-team competition founded in 2023 by American Cricket Enterprises (ACE) and sanctioned by the ICC. In August 2025 USA Cricket terminated its commercial agreement with ACE, ACE has challenged the termination in federal court, and USA Cricket filed for Chapter 11 protection in October 2025. MLC continues as the sole ICC-sanctioned US domestic T20 league while that dispute plays out. Its 2026 season runs from June 18 to July 18 across 34 matches in Texas, California and beyond. And four of its six teams are owned by Indian Premier League franchises, which is the single most important fact about how this league actually works.
If you've heard about MLC because of the Texas Super Kings or MI New York and wondered how a brand-new US cricket league got that big that fast, this is the answer. The short version: it didn't grow in isolation. It plugged straight into the world's richest cricket economy.
That's the IPL bridgehead, and you can't really understand MLC without it.
Key takeaways
- What it is: Major League Cricket (MLC) is the only ICC-sanctioned domestic T20 cricket league in the United States, founded in 2023 by American Cricket Enterprises (ACE).
- Teams: Six franchises play the league: MI New York, Washington Freedom, Texas Super Kings, LA Knight Riders, San Francisco Unicorns and Seattle Orcas.
- The IPL bridgehead: Three MLC teams directly extend an IPL franchise (MI New York, Texas Super Kings, LA Knight Riders). A fourth, Seattle Orcas, is co-owned by GMR Sports, which also co-owns IPL's Delhi Capitals. So four of six teams plug into the IPL ecosystem; the remaining two (Washington Freedom, San Francisco Unicorns) are US tech-and-investor backed.
- 2026 season: 34 T20 matches from June 18 to July 18, 2026, in a double round-robin plus a top-four playoff. MI New York are the reigning champions (2025), having beaten Washington Freedom by 5 runs at Grand Prairie Stadium. Washington Freedom won the 2024 title in between, so MI NY's two trophies came in 2023 and 2025, not back-to-back.
- Format: Standard 20-over T20 cricket, the same fast 3-hour version played at the T20 World Cup and the IPL.
What is Major League Cricket?
Major League Cricket is a professional T20 cricket league played in the United States. It was founded in 2023 by American Cricket Enterprises (ACE), and the International Cricket Council still recognises it as the country's domestic T20 competition. The league's relationship with USA Cricket is in dispute as of 2025 (see the explainer in the lede), but ICC sanctioning and the on-field competition continue. In plain English: it's America's version of the IPL or the Big Bash, just much younger and much smaller.
Six teams play each season. Each team is a city-based franchise, the way the NFL or MLB works, not a club rising and falling on results. The league plays a single competition each summer, with a round-robin group stage feeding a four-team playoff, and the champion lifts a trophy. Standard T20 stuff. The novelty is that it's all happening in the US, the largest cricket market with almost no domestic professional history before 2023. For the broader rules of the format, see our cricket rulebook.
The six teams (and the IPL bridgehead)
Here's the thing most explainers skim: this isn't six independent American franchises that emerged from nothing. It's four IPL-owned operations, with two American tech-and-business backed teams alongside. The IPL connection is the whole reason the league has IPL-quality grounds, players and broadcast deals so quickly. Look at the team names and you can see the lineage in the brand naming.
| Team | Market | Ownership lineage |
|---|---|---|
| MI New York | New York / New Jersey | Linked to the Mumbai Indians (IPL) |
| Texas Super Kings | Dallas-Fort Worth | Linked to the Chennai Super Kings (IPL) |
| LA Knight Riders | Los Angeles | Linked to the Kolkata Knight Riders (IPL) |
| Seattle Orcas | Seattle | Seattle-area tech investors + GMR Sports (co-owners of IPL's Delhi Capitals) |
| Washington Freedom | Washington DC | US-based tech and business investors |
| San Francisco Unicorns | San Francisco Bay Area | US-based tech and business investors |
That ownership pattern matters in two ways. One, it gives MLC instant access to IPL player pools, coaching staff and stadium operations expertise. Two, it makes the league deeply dependent on Indian cricket money and Indian-American diaspora audiences in the US. Strip out the IPL franchises and MLC would not exist at this scale yet. So when someone asks "is MLC growing fast?", the more honest answer is "the IPL is growing into America, and MLC is the vehicle."
The 2026 schedule: dates, venues and format
MLC 2026 runs from June 18 to July 18, a single month-long window slotted carefully between the IPL (which finishes in May) and other cricket calendars. The league plays 34 T20 matches over that window, with the action spread across three venues: Grand Prairie Stadium in Texas (MLC's original flagship and 2026 opener), the Oakland Coliseum in California (the biggest 2026 venue, hosting the entire playoff phase and the July 18 Championship Final) and the brand-new Knight Riders Cricket Field at Fairplex in Pomona, the first franchise-owned dedicated cricket ground in MLC history and also a planned LA 2028 cricket venue.
The format is a double round-robin: every team plays every other team twice, for a total of 10 league matches per side, before the top four advance to the playoffs. Standard T20 rules govern individual games, 20 overs per side, a six-over powerplay, four overs maximum per bowler, free hits for front-foot no-balls. If a knockout match ties, a Super Over decides it.
How to watch MLC in the US
Most MLC matches are broadcast in the US through streaming partnerships (Willow TV and the league's own digital platforms have carried games in recent seasons), with secondary distribution globally through cricket networks. Tickets for the venues are sold via the league's official site at majorleaguecricket.com. For a curated calendar of all the league's matches and how to follow them, our cricket USA hub tracks the live season.
And if you're new to cricket entirely, T20 is the right starting point. A new beginner's cricket course walks through the basics. If you want a side-by-side with a sport you probably know, the cricket-versus-baseball comparison is short: same idea (hit a thrown ball with a bat), different geometry. We'll publish a full comparison soon.
Why MLC matters (and the LA 2028 link)
Cricket is the world's second most-followed sport by audience, behind only football (soccer), with an estimated 2.5 billion fans concentrated heavily in South Asia, and the US is its largest unsolved market. Before 2023 there was no league a sponsor could buy into, no TV property worth bidding for, no pathway for an American teen to play professionally at home. MLC changed all three in a single season.
And the timing is not an accident. Cricket returns to the Olympics at LA 2028 as a six-team men's and women's T20 tournament, the format's first Olympic appearance since 1900. MLC gives the United States a domestic professional pipeline that didn't exist a decade ago, and gives the IPL franchises a North American storefront 18 months before the Olympic spotlight arrives. Three seasons in, the league has gone from a curiosity to a serious commercial property.
The bottom line: the IPL bridgehead, three seasons in
Major League Cricket is the United States' professional T20 cricket league: six teams, 34 matches a summer, four with IPL-franchise ties and two American-investor backed. Three seasons in, MI New York lead the trophy count, the league is locking in stadium upgrades, and an Olympic-sized tailwind is now visible 24 months out. If you're a US sports fan curious about the cricket boom in your city, MLC is where the boom is actually happening. And if you enjoy these "what is this new league" breakdowns, we did the same for box vs field lacrosse and flag vs tackle football.
Frequently asked questions
What is Major League Cricket?
Major League Cricket (MLC) is the United States' professional Twenty20 (T20) cricket league, founded in 2023 by American Cricket Enterprises (ACE). It's recognised by the ICC as the country's domestic T20 competition. ACE's commercial agreement with USA Cricket was terminated in August 2025 and is now in litigation, but the league continues. The 2026 season runs from June 18 to July 18 across six city-based franchises.
How many teams are in Major League Cricket?
Six. The MLC franchises are MI New York, Washington Freedom, Texas Super Kings, LA Knight Riders, San Francisco Unicorns and Seattle Orcas. Four of the six are owned by Indian Premier League franchise groups; the other two (Washington and San Francisco) are backed by US-based tech and business investors.
When does MLC 2026 start and finish?
The 2026 Major League Cricket season runs from June 18 to July 18, 2026, a single month-long window. The league plays 34 T20 matches across that period, in a double round-robin plus a four-team playoff. The window is timed deliberately to follow the IPL and precede other major international cricket events.
Where are MLC matches played?
The primary 2026 venues are Grand Prairie Stadium in Texas (MLC's original cricket-only flagship and 2026 opener), the Oakland Coliseum in California (the largest 2026 venue, hosting the playoffs and the July 18 Championship Final), and the Knight Riders Cricket Field at Fairplex in Pomona, a brand-new franchise-owned cricket ground that's also slated to host cricket at LA 2028.
Who won the most recent MLC season?
MI New York are the reigning champions, having won the 2025 final by defeating Washington Freedom by 5 runs at Grand Prairie Stadium. Washington Freedom were the 2024 champions in between, so MI NY's two trophies (2023 and 2025) are not back-to-back. That still makes them the team to beat heading into 2026.
How is MLC connected to the IPL?
Three MLC franchises directly extend an IPL team (MI New York → Mumbai Indians, Texas Super Kings → Chennai Super Kings, LA Knight Riders → Kolkata Knight Riders). A fourth, Seattle Orcas, is co-owned by GMR Sports, which also co-owns IPL's Delhi Capitals. That gives MLC instant access to IPL player pools, coaching expertise and operations, and makes the Indian-American diaspora a core part of the league's audience.
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