Hogan Lovells advises Major League Cricket in financing to drive American Cricket development
New York, 18 May 2022 — Global law firm Hogan Lovells advised Major League Cricket (MLC) as it completed an initial close of a US$44 million Series A and A1 Fundraising Round. With an additional commitment of US$76 million in further fundraising over the next 12 months in place, MLC intends to deploy more than US$120 million to launch the country’s first-ever professional Twenty20 cricket league and open a new era for the world’s second most popular sport in the United States.
The $120 million investment into MLC will primarily be dedicated to building premier cricket-specific stadia and training centers to develop a new generation of American cricketers. This infrastructure investment will transform the landscape for professional cricket and enable the United States to host global events over the next decade and beyond. As well as international games, world-class T20 action will be played annually with MLC bringing the best cricketers in the world to play in cricket-specific venues with natural turf wickets and first-class amenities for fans. Read more on MLC’s announcement and some of the investors involved here.
Hogan Lovells’ sports and entertainment team has strong ties to the sport of cricket and other global sports. The team represented USA Cricket, which governs the sport in the United States, on its successful bid to co-host the International Cricket Council’s (ICC) Men’s T20 World Cup in 2024. The event will be the first global cricket tournament to be staged in the United States. Similarly, the team advised USA Rugby in its successful effort to bring the World Rugby Cup to the United States. On May 12, the World Rugby Council announced that it had unanimously voted to officially select the United States as the host nation of the 2031 Men’s Rugby World Cup and the 2033 Women’s Rugby World Cup.
The Hogan Lovells team advising MLC was led by counsel Steve Argeris (Washington, D.C. and New York) and law clerk Danielle Litwak (New York), with support from partners Michael Kuh and Mark Weinstein (both New York), Matt Eisler (Denver and New York), and Carin Carithers (Washington, D.C.) and senior associate Ben Shellhorn (Denver).