Dallas-Fort Worth could get another major sports team added to its roster as part of a $2.4 billion venture to launch another U.S. sports league, which would be the biggest pitch since Major League Soccer.
Global Sports Ventures LLC, which announced it planned on establishing a professional cricket league in the United States, hired JLL’s sports and entertainment group to find attractive development sites in eight U.S. cities, including Dallas-Fort Worth.
If the sites are found, these cities could be home to a cricket-specific stadium and a mixed-use development as early as 2020.
“We know our plans are ambitious, and GSV is committed to launching a professional cricket league in the U.S. by 2020,” said Global Sports Ventures Chairman Jignesh “Jay” Pandya, in a statement.
“JLL will be a key partner in this endeavor,” he added. “We are quite impressed with the job they did the Atlanta Braves at SunTrust Bank and The Battery, and other similar stadium centric assignments across the country.”
Dallas-Fort Worth will be a big contender for the planned Texas charter location. Other charter cities or regions include: New York, New Jersey, Florida, Washington, D.C., Georgia, Illinois and California.
Upon its launch in 2020, the U.S. Cricket League plans to expand in four to six additional markets.
The first eight stadiums and their surrounding developments are expected to cost Global Sports Ventures $2.4 billion and create 17,000 jobs. Each development could have a cricket stadium, club house, restaurants, hotels, retail, residential and office space.
JLL’s International Director David Demarest said the brokerage firm has already begun its site selection and is reviewing multiple sites within the targeted cities.
The stadiums are expected to cost $70 million to $125 million, with ancillary costs of $80 million to $100 million for the mixed-use developments accompanying the cricket stadiums. The initial sites are expected to be targeted in the near future, he said.
Each cricket-anchored development will create hundreds of temporary and permanent jobs to the local economies and enhance the overall infrastructure for each community,” Demarest said.
JLL’s sports and entertainment group represented the entire spectrum of services tied to the Atlanta Braves real estate deal, which includes SunTrust Park and an adjacent mixed-use developed called The Battery.
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