A sports ventures firm will work with real estate giant JLL to plan and build eight cricket stadiums across the country, including Dallas.

Global Sports Ventures LLC sought JLL's sports and entertainment group for its advisory services as part of an effort to bring a professional cricket league to the United States by 2020.

JLL will manage the site selection and oversee the development of eight stadiums in Texas, California, Illinois, Georgia, Florida, Washington D.C., New Jersey and New York. Those locations were chosen on the basis that the sport already has established followings there, predominantly through Asian populations.

In Dallas-Fort Worth, Asian populations are among the fastest growing ethnic groups. In the 2010 census, Collin County counted nearly 32,000 Asian residents of Indian ethnicity. That county hosted a national youth cricket tournament in 2014. In Dallas County, about 37,000 Asian Indians lived there in 2010.

Outside of India, the U.S. makes up cricket's second highest viewership, said Jignesh Pandya, the Philadelphia real estate developer behind the plan. The sport is played with bowlers (similar to American baseball pitchers), batsmen and fielders and the action occurs on a large grass, turf or clay field. Matches can often last for hours.

The Texas stadium will be in Dallas, said Pandya, whose ties to the city also come via his work as a franchisee of Plano-based Pizza Hut. The stadium's location will be determined in the next several weeks, said JLL international director David Demarest.

The complexes, which Pandya estimates will cost a combined $2.4 billion to build, would include a cricket stadium, parking, and mixed-use lifestyle centers with restaurants and hotels, as well as office, residential and retail space. The projects are expected to create 17,000 jobs.

Demarest said the site search will focus on areas that are desirable from a mixed-use perspective with access to freeways and other means of transportation. The stadium would be the retail complex's anchor.

A rendering of a cricket complex. (Courtesy of Global Sports Ventures)

"More and more in all professional sports and in all entertainment activities, people are looking to expand beyond what's happening at a venue," Demarest said. "That includes entertainment and other retail outside of the venue. Retailers can take advantage of the fact that all these people are coming into and out of a facility."

The sites themselves will dictate how much space is available. Suburban sites could span 30 to 50 acres, while urban sites would require 12-15 acres for the stadium, with the rest of the facilities woven into the existing urban fabric.

Global Sports Ventures estimates the stadiums will cost between $70 million and $125 million to construct, and the mixed-use projects will range in cost from $80 million to $100 million. Pandya said he expects the projects to receive state and local funding, along with his company's investment.

The stadiums, which would seat about 25,000 people, would be similar in size to several MLS stadiums. FC Dallas plays in Frisco's Toyota Stadium, which seats 20,500 fans.

Pandya said his company was impressed with JLL's work on the Atlanta Braves' SunTrust Park and its adjacent mixed-use development, The Battery. That stadium was completed in February, Demarest said.

But in order to attract American athletes who would otherwise be drawn to baseball and softball, India's most popular sport needs more than financial backing and developed infrastructure.

"It definitely needs more professionals coming in to develop the sport," said Jagannath Poosarla, president of the Dallas Youth Cricket League.

The Dallas Cricket League has more than 100 teams and includes players as young as 5 years old. Each team plays 11 athletes. Including substitutes, rosters typically run about 20 players deep.

Pandya said local cricket leagues would be offered free use of the stadiums.

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