There are moments in sport that feel genuinely historic while they are happening, not just in retrospect. The opening of the Knight Riders Cricket Ground in Pomona, Los Angeles on July 3, 2026 is one of those moments.
Shah Rukh Khan, co-owner of the Knight Riders Group, cut the ribbon on the first ICC-standard cricket stadium ever built outside a cricket-playing nation by a global franchise. The venue sits at Fairplex Pomona in Los Angeles County, and it will serve as the permanent home of the Los Angeles Knight Riders in Major League Cricket. It will also host cricket at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics — the sport’s first appearance at the Games in 126 years.
SRK described the moment as the fulfilment of a dream. That word — dream — turns up a lot when people talk about cricket in America. On July 3, it started looking a little more like a plan.
What Makes This Stadium Significant
The Knight Riders Cricket Ground is not just a converted space or a temporary arrangement. It was purpose-built to ICC specifications, which means it meets the international standards required to host top-level competitive cricket anywhere in the world.
The numbers behind its construction tell you how serious the commitment is. Over 32,000 metric tonnes of earth were moved during construction — a figure that gives you a sense of the scale of work involved in building something from scratch on ground that was never designed for cricket.
| Location | Fairplex Pomona, Los Angeles, California |
| Standard | ICC-approved |
| Wickets | 8 natural turf wickets |
| Floodlight Towers | 6 towers, each 120 feet tall |
| Earth moved | 32,000+ metric tonnes |
| Inaugural match | LA Knight Riders vs Washington Freedom (Major League Cricket) |
| Olympic use | Cricket at LA 2028 |
The eight natural turf wickets allow for training and development alongside match play. The six 120-foot floodlight towers support nighttime broadcasting — essential for reaching audiences in different time zones when the Olympics come around in 2028.
SRK’s Words on the Day
Shah Rukh Khan shared his feelings on social media in a way that felt genuinely personal rather than promotional. He wrote that what started as a dream had turned into reality, describing the ground as a place built not just for sport but for entertainment, families, and memories that last.
He specifically thanked ICC Chairman Jay Shah and ICC CEO Sanjog Gupta for their support through the journey, and called the stadium a venue “for LA, for cricket fans across the globe, and for the Knight Riders family.”
The ceremonial first ball of the day was bowled by Ron Artest — better known as Metta World Peace — an NBA Champion with the Los Angeles Lakers. That detail alone captures something important about what this project is trying to do: connect cricket to the city’s existing sporting culture rather than treating it as a foreign import asking for tolerance.
What Jay Shah Said
ICC Chairman Jay Shah was present for the inauguration and his response was direct about what the stadium represents.
He called it a key milestone in cricket’s return to the Olympics, describing the collaboration between the LA Knight Riders, the LA 2028 Olympics committee, and the ICC as an example of what collective effort looks like when it is done right.
“Growing cricket around the world is a collective effort,” Shah said, “and initiatives such as this one help create new ecosystems for fans and players, which fuel this growth.”
That phrase — new ecosystems — is the important one. Cricket does not grow in the United States simply by playing matches there. It grows when infrastructure exists, when local teams have genuine home grounds, when young American athletes can picture themselves in the sport. The Knight Riders Cricket Ground is designed to be that kind of foundation, not just a venue for visiting international teams.
What This Means for Cricket in America
Cricket’s relationship with the United States has always been complicated. The sport has a longer history here than most people realise — cricket was played in America before baseball became the national game — but it fell away and has spent the better part of a century trying to find its footing again.
Major League Cricket, which launched in 2023, has been the most serious attempt yet to build a sustainable professional structure. The LA Knight Riders are one of its franchises, and having a permanent, ICC-standard home ground fundamentally changes what that franchise can offer — in terms of match experience, training infrastructure, and long-term credibility with both players and fans.
The 2026 ICC T20 World Cup, which was co-hosted by the United States and West Indies in 2024, showed that American cricket venues could attract significant crowds when given the chance. That experience planted a seed. The Knight Riders Cricket Ground in Pomona is the next step in that growth — a permanent piece of infrastructure owned by a globally recognised cricket brand, in one of the world’s most prominent cities.
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The 2028 Olympics Context
Cricket returns to the Olympics at LA 2028 after an absence of 126 years. The sport was last part of the Olympic programme in 1900 in Paris. Its return has been one of the most significant developments in cricket’s global expansion strategy, and the existence of an ICC-standard venue already built in Los Angeles removes one of the logistical questions that hung over the event.
The Knight Riders Cricket Ground gives the LA 2028 organisers a ready-made venue with the right specifications, floodlighting for broadcasts, and natural turf conditions that meet international standards. That is not a small thing when you are planning a multi-sport event of Olympic scale.
Knight Riders Sports CEO Venky Mysore called the stadium a proud milestone for the group’s global vision. Given that the Knight Riders group spans franchises in multiple countries — including the Kolkata Knight Riders in the IPL and Trinbago Knight Riders in the Caribbean Premier League — that global vision is not a new idea. But turning it into bricks and turf and floodlights in Los Angeles is the most visible expression of it yet.
For cricket fans who have been waiting to watch the sport treated with the seriousness it deserves in American sporting culture, July 3, 2026 was a very good day.