Major League Cricket’s (MLC) commercial partner, American Cricket Enterprises (ACE), and USA Cricket (USAC) have officially ended their long-standing partnership. Under the terms of the 50-year agreement, which was inked in June 2019, ACE was given the sole right to run a premier T20 competition in the US, market national teams, and build cricket infrastructure. Since then, ACE has paid player fees, sanction fees, and operating expenses totalling an estimated USD 10 million to United States of America.
In a three-hour August 21 USAC board meeting chaired by Chairman Venu Pisike and Board Member David Haubert, the decision to terminate was made. Directors Srini Salver, Anj Balusu, and Pintoo Shah supported them; they constituted a tight majority against directors Arjun Gona, Kuljit Nijjar, Atul Rai, and Nadia Gruny, who protested. With Gruny already contesting the validity of Pisike’s chairmanship in accordance with USA Cricket’s statutes, the vote has further widened already existing rifts within the board.
Concerns regarding the action have been raised by legal and financial experts. While an outside lawyer called the decision “reckless,” United States of America Cricket legal counsel cautioned the board that the termination was unlikely to withstand arbitration. CEO Johnathan Atkeison also issued a warning, saying that without ACE’s quarterly payments, the already financially strapped organisation might be forced to the verge of bankruptcy. Since July 2024, USA Cricket has been suspended by the ICC, which means that the international organisation has direct control over ICC financing, giving USAC little financial leeway.
The board issued a termination warning detailing multiple alleged violations in June 2025, which is when the disagreement between USAC and ACE began. In July, ACE provided a detailed argument in response. Cricbuzz believes that just two claims—the failure to build a High Performance Centre and the failure to provide minimum guarantees—qualify as serious breaches under the contract.
ACE has apparently been making quarterly minimum-guarantee payments, according to bank data. Regarding the High Performance Centre, ACE cited its Grand Prairie facility, which was created in collaboration with USA Cricket and has been authorised by the ICC to host the 2024 World Cup, as evidence that it surpasses the requirements of the majority of Associate countries.
The national teams are immediately affected by the termination. In order to support forthcoming matches, such as three ODIs and three T20s against West Indies A in October, as well as USA Women’s matches versus West Indies, USAC and MLC had been working together on a $700,000 budget. These games, which also served as training camps for the men’s, women’s, and junior programs, were scheduled to take place at MLC locations in Dallas and Morrisville. The USA men’s squad may enter the 2026 T20 World Cup with little T20 experience outside of ICC-arranged warm-ups as a result of the partnership being broken, which puts the fixtures in grave danger.
USA Cricket has insisted that it wants MLC to continue in spite of the criticism, but as the league is approved by the ICC, USAC is not responsible for its survival.
However, it is generally anticipated that ACE will contest the termination in arbitration, citing its long-term obligations and investments in the larger American cricket ecosystem. With internal board conflicts, legal disagreements, and financial instability threatening to overshadow the sport’s advancement in the US, the deadlock puts US cricket governance at a crossroads.
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