The Sports Desk
The fourth edition of MLC will be held at five different venues with the final to be held at the same venue which hosted the final of the previous edition, from June 18 to July 18, 2026 while the six-teams for 34 games format will continue. From the third season in 2025, MLC has opted for a June-July window to not compete with other international franchise competitions and to have availability of a larger talent pool.
Even after dates were announced for 4th edition, USA Cricket (USAC) has yet to publicly acknowledge whether it rescinded the termination of its contract with the league’s owners, American Cricket Enterprises (ACE). These uncertainties have caused consternation to USA players, says Corey Anderson, the operational director of the USA Cricketers’ Association, the body not being recognized officially by USAC.
Since its start, the tournament has expanded rapidly. The competition was initially a 19-matches event in 2023 and increased to 25 matches in 2024, before extended to a 34-matches format in 2025. MLC is once again scheduled to avoid a clash with The Hundred, which is believed to take place from July 21 to August 16, but dates are yet to be confirmed.
MLC chief executive Johnny Grave added: “The success of Season 3 has proven that there is a huge and increasing appetite for world-class cricket in the US. He also said that MLC is attracting more and more fans, followers and viewers domestically and globally, helping it to grow the game in the USA and to extend its cooperation with commercial stakeholders.
ACE plans to build 10 world-class facilities by 2030, investing over US$150 million, MLC said. The six teams officially announced for Season 4 are Los Angeles Knight Riders (Knight Riders Group), MI New York (Indiawin Sports), San Francisco Unicorns (Anand Rajaraman, Venky Harinarayan), Seattle Orcas (GMR Group, Satya Nadella, S Somasegar), Texas Super Kings (Chennai Super Kings, Anurag Jain, Ross Perot Jr), and Washington Freedom (Sanjay Govil).
MLC is also thinking beyond that with plans to add two more teams by 2027 and also possibly foray into Canada. In the 2025 tournament, MI New York claimed their 2nd title in 3 seasons, edging Washington Freedom by five runs in the final.
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