Steve Smith Plans To Join $174 Million Major League Cricket League In USA Next Year: Reports

After holding private discussions with the executives of a new American T20 league, Steve Smith is supposedly in with a possibility of playing cricket in the United States the next year.

This year’s Major League Cricket competition begins in July and will last three weeks while being contested in Texas and North Carolina. Rich Indian businesspeople and celebrities have contributed more than AU$174 million to the six-team competition, including Microsoft CEO Satya Nardella and Bollywood icon Shah Rukh Khan.

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Might See A Lot Of Steve Smith In The USA: MLC Co-founder Sameer Mehta

There is a $1.5 million pay ceiling for each of the six franchises, which are located in Dallas, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., Seattle, and New York City. Each franchise may sign up to seven international talents. Last week, Cricket NSW established a strategic alliance with MLC that would let American players compete in the American T20 event and Australian players play in NSW Premier Cricket.

New South Wales is anticipated to provide players and personnel for the squad as part of CNSW’s high-performance collaboration with the Washington DC franchise.

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“With the global cricket landscape currently undergoing significant transition, we view the United States as a market with immense growth potential,” CNSW chief executive Lee Germon said in a statement.

“Cricket NSW’s track record in high performance cricket and elite match operations is second to none and we believe we can bring a raft of experience to MLC and the Washington D.C. franchise in the coming years.”

Steve Smith, who has made New York his second home, won’t be able to participate in the MLC tournament this year because it conflicts with the Ashes, according to News Corp, but the 33-year-old has reportedly been in contact with the competition’s organizers about a 2024 participation.

In June of next year, when the Men’s T20 World Cup is set to begin in the United States and the West Indies, Steve Smith may find himself without a job.

“We’ve been in touch with Steve about his plans and what he’s thinking,” MLC co-founder Sameer Mehta told News Corp.

“What he’d love to do at some point is play cricket in the US as his schedule permits.

“His view was that if he could make it work and if we could make it work – I know this season, he has commitments. I don’t know what the Australian calendar is next year but I believe there is enough space for him to potentially play.”

“Long-term … our view is that we might see a lot of him in the US.”

Steve Smith Interested About Cricket In USA

When asked about finishing his career as a player in the United States, where he and his wife Dani announced their engagement in 2017, sTEVE Smith commented earlier this summer that it would be “quite great.”

“There’s obviously leagues popping up everywhere around the world now, and I think you’ll probably see more players in the back end of their career going down that route, so it’s potentially something I’ll look at in the future,” Steve Smith told the Sydney Morning Herald in September.

“The US has been a market that cricket’s been trying to get into for some time. So yeah, I think it’d be interesting to see how it goes.”

A rising market for cricket has been identified as the United States, where a sizable South Asian diaspora and the country’s financial clout are accelerating the growth of the game.

On July 13 in Texas, the MLC’s inaugural season is scheduled to start.

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