Facilities and Arena discussion

EXpatriot13

All-Conference
GIVING DAY 2023
I’d think much smaller:

Two guesses. OGDC (a Major League Rugby team that currently plays at Segra Field in Loudoun), or one of two DC United projects (a women’s team they announced from the just announced USL women’s league, or their as yet unannounced MLS Next Pro team).
Soccer makes a ton of sense, given we desperately need a new facility there as well. Mason being innovative with strategic sports partnerships?!
 

MasonSAE4

All-American
⭐️ Donor ⭐️
Thank you voice of doom.
Or voice of reason? The weather isn't conducive to people wanting to go until very late in the season. The league is not the ACC or SEC. Baseball is on the decline despite what those born before the advent of VHS would have you believe. No amount of winning is filling a 12k seater. The only real benefit I can think of is hosting tournaments and other outside events.

We can't put 8,000 in a relatively comfortable arena for our marquee program that is synonymous with cinderalla runs. And as irrelevant as we've been, we've had some winning seasons recently. We aren't exactly Fordham.
 

MasonSAE4

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⭐️ Donor ⭐️
I’d think much smaller:

Two guesses. OGDC (a Major League Rugby team that currently plays at Segra Field in Loudoun), or one of two DC United projects (a women’s team they announced from the just announced USL women’s league, or their as yet unannounced MLS Next Pro team).
Given that Loundon United spun off from DCU, I would love a facility that has official links to DCU and could host Open Cup games. DCU didn't even apply to host a home match in one of the rounds this year as Audi Field was booked and it was a real kick in the nuts cause it would've meant my beloved Revs would've gotten another game in DC this year.

Also, Mason Stadium sucks shit and needs to be torn down yesterday.
 

Patriot8

All-American
⭐️ Donor ⭐️
GIVING DAY 2023
Or voice of reason? The weather isn't conducive to people wanting to go until very late in the season. The league is not the ACC or SEC. Baseball is on the decline despite what those born before the advent of VHS would have you believe. No amount of winning is filling a 12k seater. The only real benefit I can think of is hosting tournaments and other outside events.

We can't put 8,000 in a relatively comfortable arena for our marquee program that is synonymous with cinderalla runs. And as irrelevant as we've been, we've had some winning seasons recently. We aren't exactly Fordham.
1,500 - 2,000 seats would be ideal.
 

EXpatriot13

All-Conference
GIVING DAY 2023
1,500 - 2,000 seats would be ideal.
No, it wouldn’t. This isn’t a stadium being built solely for Mason baseball.

We’ve all been complaining about our current baseball facility for YEARS, and now we have a legitimate strategic partner willing to help build a new stadium…but it’s going to have too many seats? Come on…

This opens the door for rev-share opportunities with Major League Cricket, ability to host conference tournaments, regionals, non-sporting events, etc. Credit to Dr. Wash and those involved for thinking outside the box to find a solution that not only could bring a state of the art baseball facility to fruition, but also generate new rev-share lanes for the school/athletics.
 

Patriot8

All-American
⭐️ Donor ⭐️
GIVING DAY 2023
No, it wouldn’t. This isn’t a stadium being built solely for Mason baseball.

We’ve all been complaining about our current baseball facility for YEARS, and now we have a legitimate strategic partner willing to help build a new stadium…but it’s going to have too many seats? Come on…

This opens the door for rev-share opportunities with Major League Cricket, ability to host conference tournaments, regionals, non-sporting events, etc. Credit to Dr. Wash and those involved for thinking outside the box to find a solution that not only could bring a state of the art baseball facility to fruition, but also generate new rev-share lanes for the school/athletics.
I’m speaking strictly to baseball, not other opportunities. For the attendance this program will average, a 2000 seat stadium would be ideal.

Just like we “all” agree that EBA is too large for the crowds Mason Basketball brings in, but with all the outside events it hosts, it wouldn’t make sense to permanently decrease capacity. A really nice 5-6k seat arena would be perfect for basketball, but again, it’s not just hosting basketball.
 

EXpatriot13

All-Conference
GIVING DAY 2023
I’m speaking strictly to baseball, not other opportunities. For the attendance this program will average, a 2000 seat stadium would be ideal.
It would be ideal. But the school has made it obvious they can’t (or don’t want to) get a new baseball-only stadium done on their own.

The incremental revenue opportunities this new hybrid stadium could bring is worth it alone, something they’d never get otherwise.
 

MasonFanatic

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Staff member
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GIVING DAY 2023
The stadium will require some seasonal conversion from cricket to baseball. It's possible the baseball configuration will have fewer seats than the cricket one.

Maybe we're finally getting our athletics village after all?
 

MasonFanatic

Moderator
Staff member
⭐️ Donor ⭐️
GIVING DAY 2023
I’d think much smaller:

Two guesses. OGDC (a Major League Rugby team that currently plays at Segra Field in Loudoun), or one of two DC United projects (a women’s team they announced from the just announced USL women’s league, or their as yet unannounced MLS Next Pro team).
These are both good guesses. Another possibility would be pro lacrosse.
 

Pablo

Hall of Famer

"Fans at the purpose-built cricket stadium on Thursday, just a 15-minute drive from Dallas Fort Worth airport, were decked out in the yellow shirts of the victorious home side, the Texas Super Kings, and were treated to the familiar sight of big sixes and non-stop action.

The Super Kings won by 69 runs after making 181 for six and then bowling out the Los Angeles Knight Riders for 112.

Any concerns that cricket in the US might not be the real deal vanished when the action got under way and the crowd began cheering the big hitting of the home team.

The stadium previously belonged to the now defunct Texas Airhogs minor league baseball club, but since taking over the venue, MLC has spent over $20m making it cricket-specific."

AP23195125037579-1689316209.jpg


"As well as the involvement of IPL teams, Australia’s Cricket Victoria has a high-performance partnership with the San Francisco Unicorns, and Cricket New South Wales has a similar role with the Washington Freedom.

The league has broadcast deals with streaming service Willow TV, whose owners are also investors in MLC, and also with Viacom18 in India."
 

GMUgemini

Hall of Famer
⭐️ Donor ⭐️
The number four ranked dayton flyers came and the joint didn't get a sell out. smh.

As if Dayton is a brand the DMV cares about, especially when our team sucks? We sold out UVA when Hewitt was here. We even almost sold out freaking Northeastern in 2011 (something like 9300).

So we either have to be really really good (had we also been too 25 and challenging them for 1st place the building would have been packed) or we need to be hosting a real basketball brand in the area.
 

psyclone

Hall of Famer

"Fans at the purpose-built cricket stadium on Thursday, just a 15-minute drive from Dallas Fort Worth airport, were decked out in the yellow shirts of the victorious home side, the Texas Super Kings, and were treated to the familiar sight of big sixes and non-stop action.

The Super Kings won by 69 runs after making 181 for six and then bowling out the Los Angeles Knight Riders for 112.

Any concerns that cricket in the US might not be the real deal vanished when the action got under way and the crowd began cheering the big hitting of the home team.

The stadium previously belonged to the now defunct Texas Airhogs minor league baseball club, but since taking over the venue, MLC has spent over $20m making it cricket-specific."

AP23195125037579-1689316209.jpg


"As well as the involvement of IPL teams, Australia’s Cricket Victoria has a high-performance partnership with the San Francisco Unicorns, and Cricket New South Wales has a similar role with the Washington Freedom.

The league has broadcast deals with streaming service Willow TV, whose owners are also investors in MLC, and also with Viacom18 in India."
More promotion of this version of cricket. Sounds like they had 7,000+ at the stadium for the match.

 
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Pablo

Hall of Famer

MLC Teams Owners

Following are the details of the MLC Team Owners and partners along with the city and stadium details:

TeamOwnersCityStadiumCapacity
Texas Super KingsChennai Super Kings,
Anurag Jain,
Ross Perot Jr.
Grand Prairie, TexasGrand Prairie Stadium7,000
Los Angeles Knight RidersKnight Riders GroupOrange County, CaliforniaGreat Park Cricket Stadium (planned)10,000 (planned)
MI New YorkIndiawin SportsNew York City, New YorkMarine Park Cricket Stadium (planned)10,000 (planned)
San Francisco UnicornsAnand Rajaraman,
Venky Harinarayan
Santa Clara, CaliforniaSanta Clara Fairgrounds Stadium (planned)15,000 (planned)
Seattle OrcasGMR Group,
Satya Nadell
Seattle, WashingtonMarymoor Cricket Community Park (planned)6,000 (planned)
Washington FreedomSanjay GovilWashington D.C.George Mason Cricket Stadium (planned)12,000 (planned)

 

psyclone

Hall of Famer

MLC Teams Owners

Following are the details of the MLC Team Owners and partners along with the city and stadium details:

TeamOwnersCityStadiumCapacity
Texas Super KingsChennai Super Kings,
Anurag Jain,
Ross Perot Jr.
Grand Prairie, TexasGrand Prairie Stadium7,000
Los Angeles Knight RidersKnight Riders GroupOrange County, CaliforniaGreat Park Cricket Stadium (planned)10,000 (planned)
MI New YorkIndiawin SportsNew York City, New YorkMarine Park Cricket Stadium (planned)10,000 (planned)
San Francisco UnicornsAnand Rajaraman,
Venky Harinarayan
Santa Clara, CaliforniaSanta Clara Fairgrounds Stadium (planned)15,000 (planned)
Seattle OrcasGMR Group,
Satya Nadell
Seattle, WashingtonMarymoor Cricket Community Park (planned)6,000 (planned)
Washington FreedomSanjay GovilWashington D.C.George Mason Cricket Stadium (planned)12,000 (planned)

Whoa! 12,000---that's a lot of seats and a lot of parking spaces (many more than are currently close to the Field House and the baseball field). I'm still a bit skeptical that this will be money-maker.
 

Pablo

Hall of Famer

"Washington Freedom and George Mason University (GMU) marked their historic partnership with a dinner at the beautiful Dallas Arboretum, with executives from all parties present.​

Senior officials from Washington Freedom, George Mason University and Cricket New South Wales were in attendance to celebrate and announce the plans for Freedom and GMU’s long-term partnership, with GMU set to host Freedom home games from 2025 in a purpose built cricket and baseball facility.

Washington Freedom owner Sanjay Govil, as well as GMU President Dr. George Washington, spoke as part of a four-person panel that also included Cricket New South Wales CEO, Lee Germon, and Washington Freedom’s Head of Sports Science and Sports Medicine, Patrick Farhat."

View: https://youtu.be/DfeMNP34aYQ
 

Pablo

Hall of Famer

"Major League Cricket (MLC) and George Mason University are all set to marry cricket and baseball with a path-breaking dual-purposed stadium in the latter's Fairfax campus about 25 miles from Washington DC. MLC and GMU have entered in an MOU to further study the feasibility of the proposed stadium. It is learnt that the facility will be based on a 15-acre land with a total project cost estimated to the tune of $20 million. Projected to be operational by 2025, the stadium will play hosts to the Washington DC franchise of the MLC in the summer and the GMU baseball team during the spring.

This union between cricket and baseball is a brainchild of Sanjay Govil, an Indian American tech entrepreneur (Chairman of Infinite Computer Solutions and Zyter) and the owner of MLC's DC franchise. With obvious legal and bureaucratic blockades leading to procuring a cricket stadium with frugality in the cricketing backwaters of America, it took Govil 14 months and personal cash to the tune of USD 500,000 to zero upon a site for a cricket stadium in DC metro.

'It was an exhaustive process. First of all, in a country like the US, you don't know where to start with for a cricket stadium. There's a lot of red tape. We examined a few state parks but found they have their own limitations. We worked with a host of sports consultants and eventually found this piece of land right in the premises of one of the most vibrant universities on the east coast. We do have a challenge in terms of design and dimensions of the playing field, but we want the assure the fans that it will be an ICC standard playing field and stadium' said Govil to Cricbuzz."
 
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