Major League Cricket: Teams, Format, Winners and Expansion
Major League Cricket is the United States' professional T20 competition, launched in 2023 with six franchises, four of them part-owned by IPL groups, played over about five weeks each June and July. Three of its four seasons have been won by IPL-backed sides: MI New York in 2023 and 2025, the Washington Freedom in 2024, and Los Angeles Knight Riders in 2026 by a single run. This guide covers the teams and their owners, the format, the grounds, the four finals, the expansion plan, and the longer story of cricket in America that the league is the latest attempt to write.
The Teams
| Team | Backing |
|---|---|
| MI New York | Reliance, owners of Mumbai Indians |
| Los Angeles Knight Riders | Knight Riders group, owners of KKR |
| Texas Super Kings | Chennai Super Kings ownership |
| Seattle Orcas | GMR, co-owners of Delhi Capitals, with Microsoft's Satya Nadella among investors |
| Washington Freedom | Sanjay Govil, who also holds half of Welsh Fire in The Hundred |
| San Francisco Unicorns | Anand Rajaraman and Venky Harinarayan |
The league is run by American Cricket Enterprises under a long-term agreement with USA Cricket, with Adobe's Shantanu Narayen among its founding investors.
Format and Grounds
Six teams play a single round-robin plus extra fixtures for 30 league matches, then a four-match playoff with a qualifier, eliminator, challenger and final, the structure borrowed from the IPL: 34 matches in all. The 2025 season ran from 12 June to 13 July and the 2026 season from 18 June to 18 July. The home of the league is Grand Prairie Stadium near Dallas, a converted baseball ground that hosted matches at the 2024 T20 World Cup, with the Oakland Coliseum in California as the second main venue. Lauderhill in Florida was used in 2025; in 2026 it was replaced by the Knight Riders' new ground at Fairplex in Pomona, Los Angeles, the first purpose-built franchise home in the league.
The Finals
- 2023. MI New York, the inaugural champions.
- 2024. Washington Freedom.
- 2025. MI New York 180 for 7 beat Washington Freedom 175 for 5 by five runs at Grand Prairie on 13 July 2025. Mitchell Owen was player of the season and Monank Patel the leading scorer with 478 runs.
- 2026. Los Angeles Knight Riders 164 beat Washington Freedom 163 for 9 by one run at the Oakland Coliseum on 18 July 2026, Sunil Narine taking three for 13 and winning both the final and tournament awards. It was the Knight Riders' first title and Washington's second lost final in a row.
Expansion
The league has said it intends to grow to eight teams by 2027 and ten by 2031. A franchise backed by New Zealand Cricket with True North Sports Ventures has been reported as the next entrant, with Toronto and Atlanta among the cities discussed, and talks on a Canadian team were still being reported in 2026. As of October 2026 no seventh team, city or name has been confirmed, so treat any specific expansion claim as unconfirmed until the league announces it.
Cricket in America, Before and After
The first international cricket match anywhere was the United States against Canada in Manhattan in 1844, and the sport was played widely in Philadelphia and New York into the early twentieth century before baseball displaced it. A professional league, Pro Cricket, folded after one season in 2004. What changed by 2023 was the South Asian diaspora, the money of the IPL owners, the 2024 T20 World Cup co-hosted in the US, and cricket's confirmed return to the Olympics at Los Angeles in 2028, which gives the league a home Games to build towards. Whether it reaches ten teams depends on grounds more than on money, which is why Pomona matters as much as any signing.
Watching From the UK
Matches start in the US afternoon and evening, which puts most of them late at night or in the early hours for UK viewers. Broadcast arrangements change season to season; check the league's site for the current UK rights holder. Our guide to Major League Cricket teams has the squads and grounds, and we stock the Texas Super Kings and Washington Freedom 2025 shirts when sizes allow in our choose your own collection.
FAQs: Major League Cricket
What is Major League Cricket? The United States' professional T20 league, six franchises, played each June and July since 2023.
Who won Major League Cricket in 2026? Los Angeles Knight Riders, beating Washington Freedom by one run in the final at Oakland on 18 July 2026.
Who won Major League Cricket in 2025? MI New York, beating Washington Freedom by five runs at Grand Prairie, their second title.
Who owns Major League Cricket teams? Four of the six are backed by IPL ownership groups: Reliance, the Knight Riders, Chennai Super Kings and GMR. The league itself is run by American Cricket Enterprises.
When does Major League Cricket start? Mid-June. The 2026 season ran from 18 June to 18 July. 2027 dates have not been published.
Sources
The 2026 final is reported by ESPNcricinfo. The 2025 and 2026 seasons, venues and results are recorded on the 2026 season page and the 2025 season page.
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