Oakland Coliseum is being reconfigured for Major League Cricket matches in 2025
The legendary Oakland Coliseum in California, which has hosted baseball and American football since 1966, is being prepared for a new use. In 2025, the stadium is set to stage nine Cognizant Major League Cricket matches, and for this the venue is being converted to a cricket configuration with professional requirements for the field and its maintenance.
The key contractor for the project is The LandTek Group, a TenCate company. At the center of the work is the installation of international-standard portable cricket pitches. In cricket, the pitch is a prepared strip in the center of the field, and the bounce of the ball and player safety directly depend on its condition.
Nine matches and a new field layout for cricket
Preparing the Coliseum for the Major League Cricket season involves not just superficial tweaks, but a rethink of how the turf and central area are used. Cricket requires different markings, a different maintenance and usage regime for the turf, and tighter tolerances for surface levelness and density in the pitch area.
As part of adapting the stadium for nine matches in 2025, the plan includes work typically associated with converting a venue for a different sport:
- switching to a cricket layout, with the pitch positioned at the center of the field
- preparing the base and field layers for installing the portable modules
- setting up operational processes—from equipment access to turf-care protocols during match weeks
It is not easy to assess the scale of the modernization from the outside, since some decisions remain within the contractor’s method statements. Public information contains almost no details on how the cricket field will coexist with the existing stadium infrastructure, which was designed for different loads and a different seasonal rhythm.
LandTek’s view on expanding its footprint in sports construction
After the work was announced, the company’s operations director, John Sulinski, linked the project to LandTek’s expanding presence in sports construction and to the growth of cricket in the United States. “The project at Oakland Coliseum is a meaningful step for us as we expand our presence in the sports construction industry. We are honored to contribute to the growth of cricket in the United States and to provide fans and the world’s best players with a world-class cricket experience,” he said.
In such wording, a balance is noticeable between sporting romance and the contractor’s pragmatism. For the company, it is a showcase of the company’s capabilities, and for the league it is a way to show that American infrastructure can host cricket without compromising on surface quality, even when it comes to a stadium with a history shaped by entirely different sports.
Portable pitches from the T20 World Cup 2024
A distinctive feature of the project is tied to the origin of the surface. The portable pitches that will be installed in Oakland will be reused after the 2024 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup. Previously, they were used at the Nassau County International Cricket Stadium in Eisenhower Park in New York State. Relying on already proven modules reduces the risk of failing to meet international standards, since these surfaces have undergone real match wear at a top-level tournament.
At the same time, reuse does not mean automatic success in new conditions. California’s climate, irrigation schedules, and local soil characteristics can affect how the turf performs. Therefore, the project separately highlights the establishment period; in essence, this is the adaptation of the turf cover and root system to a new base and usage regime.
The 2,900 mi route from New York to California
The logistics are an engineering operation in their own right. LandTek’s professional grounds crew is responsible for removing the modules, preparing them, and transporting them from Long Island to Oakland Coliseum, with the distance estimated at about 2 900 mi. In practice, this means not just transporting cargo, but moving a living sports surface while controlling moisture, structural integrity, and layer stability.
At a high level, the sequence is described as follows:
- dismantling and removing the portable pitches at the original site in New York
- preparing for transport while preserving the turf structure
- delivery to California and placement on the Coliseum’s pre-prepared base
The weak point in such projects is typically the window between removal and installation, when the material is most vulnerable to drying out and mechanical deformation. Neither party has publicly disclosed specific methods of packaging and parameter control during transit.
Who is responsible for establishment, and who is preparing the venue for matches
Within the project, roles are divided. LandTek’s grounds crew handles the entire cycle related to the portable pitches, from removal and transportation to on-site care. After delivery, the team will control the condition of the surface, carry out maintenance and monitor establishment—that is, the period when the turf must stabilize and reach operational performance.
In parallel, LandTek’s sports construction team is engaged in the construction and technical preparation of the field area at the Coliseum for nine matches in the 2025 season. This involves preparing the site for installing the modules and bringing the base and interfaces into line with professional cricket requirements. Already in California, LandTek will work jointly with an Australian grounds team from Adelaide Oval, with the focus on joint maintenance of the portable pitches and monitoring the surface’s readiness for matches.
Cricket in the United States, LandTek’s experience, and the Olympic outlook
The context of the project goes beyond a single stadium. LandTek notes that in 2024 the company took part in the construction and maintenance of two venues for the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup. This experience is important for the league, because cricket surfaces are sensitive to small details, and transferring practices from an international tournament reduces uncertainty, though it doesn’t eliminate it entirely.
An additional boost for the market is linked to the Olympics. Cricket has officially been included in the program of the 2028 Summer Olympic Games, marking the sport’s return to the Olympics for the first time since 1900. Major League Cricket declares a mission to expand the sport’s presence in the United States and seeks to position the country as a notable global hub for cricket, where infrastructure and the calendar can support regular tournaments.
In connection with the preparation of Oakland Coliseum for cricket matches, sportsbooks and betting companies have also become noticeably more active, including online platforms. A large number of people of Indian and Pakistani origin live in the United States, for whom cricket remains a national sport, so interest in betting on Major League Cricket games is rising in step with infrastructure-related news. Sites that promote cricket betting and mobile apps for it are attracting an ever-growing audience.
Our authors decided to check how well this claim matches reality and found at the top of search results the site https://cricketbettingapps.org/, where they found information about the top cricket betting apps. The site was geared toward Andhra Pradesh, but it is also actively used in the United States, driven by the growing Indian diaspora. The authors of this resource told us that it was precisely during the period when the stadium conversion began and news about nine MLC matches started to appear that their traffic increased noticeably. It is obvious that fans want to be ready for the season in advance—not only emotionally, but also armed with information about the best betting apps and bonuses. While engineers prepare the field, the digital betting ecosystem is developing in parallel, so that every spectator can not only watch the game, but also engage with it in a new format.
In this logic, Oakland Coliseum becomes a transitional venue where a historic stadium is adopting international cricket standards. In 2025, the stadium is set to host nine Major League Cricket matches, and the core of the playing center will be made up of international-standard portable pitches transferred from a 2024 World Cup venue.