Grand Prairie Stadium (formerly QuikTrip Park and AirHogs Stadium) is a

cricket ground Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field, at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails (small sticks) balanced on three stumps. Two players from the ...

and former

ballpark A ballpark, or baseball park, is a type of sports venue where baseball is played. The playing field is divided into two field sections called the infield and the outfield. The infield is an area whose dimensions are rigidly defined in part ba ...

Grand Prairie, Texas Grand Prairie is a city in the U.S. state of Texas, located in Dallas County, Texas, Dallas, Tarrant County, Texas, Tarrant, and Ellis County, Texas, Ellis counties with a small part extending into Johnson County, Texas , Johnson county. It ...

. Opened in May 2008, it served as the home stadium of the

Texas AirHogs The Texas AirHogs were a professional baseball team based in Grand Prairie, Texas from 2008 to 2020. The AirHogs were members of the American Association of Independent Professional Baseball, which is not affiliated with Major League Baseball. Be ...

of the

American Association of Professional Baseball The American Association of Professional Baseball is an independent professional baseball league founded in 2005. It operates in the central United States and Canada, mostly in cities not served by Major League Baseball teams or their minor ...

from 2008 through 2019, and of the

USL League Two USL League Two (USL2), formerly the Premier Development League (PDL), is a semi-professional soccer league sponsored by United Soccer Leagues in the United States, forming part of the United States soccer league system. The league will featu ...

soccer team Texas United from 2017 to 2019. After the AirHogs folded in October 2020, it was announced that American Cricket Enterprises—the commercial partner of

USA Cricket USA Cricket (USAC) is the governing body of cricket in the United States. USA Cricket operates all of the United States national representative cricket sides, including the men's and women's national teams and youth teams, as well as Majo ...

—had acquired the lease to AirHogs Stadium, and planned to redevelop the ballpark as a

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

ground. The $20 million redevelopment began in April 2022, and the stadium reopened in July 2023 for the inaugural season of the

Twenty20 Twenty20 (abbreviated T20) is a shortened format of cricket. At the professional level, it was introduced by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) in 2003 for the county cricket, inter-county competition. In a Twenty20 game, the two t ...

league

Major League Cricket Major League Cricket (MLC) is a professional Twenty20 (T20) cricket league in the United States organized by American Cricket Enterprises (ACE) and sanctioned by USA Cricket. Founded in 2023, the league operates as a single entity consisting of ...

—during which it hosted most matches. The stadium also serves as a home and training facility for the

United States national team The United States national team or Team USA may refer to any of a number of sports team representing the United States in international competitions. Olympic teams Additionally, these teams may compete in other international competitions such as ...

, and was one of three U.S. host stadiums during the group stage of the

2024 ICC Men's T20 World Cup The 2024 ICC Men's T20 World Cup was the ninth edition of the ICC Men's T20 World Cup, co-hosted by Cricket West Indies and USA Cricket from 1 to 29 June 2024. It was the first major ICC tournament to include matches played in the United ...

History

The ballpark was constructed for the newly formed Texas AirHogs baseball team; Tulsa-based convenience store chain

QuikTrip The QuikTrip Corporation, more commonly known as QuikTrip (QT), is an American chain of convenience stores based in Tulsa, Oklahoma, that operates in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern, Southern United States, Southern, and Western United ...

funded and acquired the

naming rights Naming rights are a financial transaction and form of advertising or memorialization where a corporation, person, or other entity purchases the right to name a facility, object, location, program, or event (most often sports venues), typical ...

to the stadium, considering it a part of the company's 50th anniversary. In 2013, its natural grass surface was replaced with Matrix

artificial turf Artificial turf is a surface of synthetic fibers made to look like natural grass, used in sports arenas, residential lawns and commercial applications that traditionally use grass. It is much more durable than grass and easily maintained wi ...

. By 2016, after the expiration of QuikTrip's naming rights, the park was later referred to as The Ballpark in Grand Prairie or AirHogs Stadium. In 2017, the AirHogs' ownership group Neltex Sports Group established a new

Premier Development League USL League Two (USL2), formerly the Premier Development League (PDL), is a semi-professional soccer league sponsored by United Soccer Leagues in the United States, forming part of the United States soccer league system. The league will featu ...

(PDL) soccer team, Texas United, which would play home matches at AirHogs Stadium. In 2020, the Texas AirHogs opted out of the American Association season due to the

COVID-19 pandemic in Texas The COVID-19 pandemic in Texas is a part of the ongoing viral pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), a novel infectious disease caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The state of Texas confirmed its ...

, and then terminated their membership in the league in October of that year.

Conversion to a cricket stadium

On November 17, 2020, it was announced that American Cricket Enterprises had signed a long-term lease for the stadium, which would undergo redevelopment to convert it into a facility that can host domestic and international

matches, and a Dallas-area team for its upcoming

Twenty20 cricket Twenty20 (abbreviated T20) is a shortened format of cricket. At the professional level, it was introduced by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) in 2003 for the county cricket, inter-county competition. In a Twenty20 game, the two t ...

league

, the US governing body, also announced that the facility would be used as a high-performance training center. In May 2021,

announced that Major League Cricket had been pushed back from 2022 to a 2023 launch due to a "lack of high-quality cricket stadiums" in the United States. It was also announced that the stadium renovations were set to begin the same month, and would last from mid-2022 to summer 2023. With the acquisition of the stadium, Texas United began playing most of their home matches on the campus of the

University of Texas at Dallas The University of Texas at Dallas (UTD or UT Dallas) is a public research university in Richardson, Texas, United States. It is the northernmost institution of the University of Texas System. It was initially founded in 1961 as a private res ...

beginning in the 2021 season. The renovations include refurbishment and enhancement of the stadium's 13 luxury suites and Hall of Fame and Officer Club Rooms, installation of "premium seating experiences" around the field, and the renovation and reopening of the stadium's sports bar facility. Other cricket amenities such as training nets, batting lanes, and outside turf fields are planned to be added in "subsequent renovation phases". Dallas-based architect HKS was retained by ACE for this stadium, with the Manhattan Construction Company tapped to act as Construction Manager. In March 2022, ACE stated that it expected to complete the project by March 2023, with the stadium being part of a $110 million investment into new and refurbished cricket-specific stadiums for MLC, and other ventures such as the

. Ground broke in April 2022, and construction started that July. The project has reportedly costed an excess of $20 million. The stadium was rededicated by the city on July 11, 2023, and it hosted most matches during the inaugural season of MLC that began on July 13. Following the season, the stadium hosted local

Minor League Cricket Minor League Cricket (MiLC) is a professional Twenty20, Twenty20 cricket league in the United States that serves as the Minor league, developmental league for Major League Cricket (MLC). The league comprises 26 teams, divided between the Atlanti ...

team, the Dallas Mustangs, for their 2023 campaign. It also hosted the finals of that season, where it saw the Mustangs emerge victorious over the New Jersey Somerset Cavaliers. The stadium hosted matches during the group stage of the 2024 Men's T20 World Cup, including the opening match between the United States and Canada; temporary bleachers were installed to double the capacity of the stadium for the tournament. On June 6, 2024, in their second match at the stadium, the U.S. team notably upset

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

in a

Super Over Super Over, also known as a one-over eliminator or a one over per side eliminator, is a Tiebreaker, tie-breaking method used in Limited overs cricket, limited-overs cricket matches. If a match ends in a "Result (cricket)#Tie, tie", it proceeds t ...

2024 ICC Men's T20 World Cup matches

---- ---- ----

List of centuries

Domestic T20 centuries

The following table summarises the domestic Twenty20 centuries scored at the site.

Tenants

United States national cricket team

Grand Prairie Stadium became one of the five established US facilities for cricket, with it set to host the

2024 T20 World Cup The 2024 ICC Men's T20 World Cup was the ninth edition of the ICC Men's T20 World Cup, co-hosted by Cricket West Indies and USA Cricket from 1 to 29 June 2024. It was the first major International Cricket Council, ICC tournament to include ...

in June and July.

Texas AirHogs

The park was built for the

of the American Association in 2007. They began play (as the Grand Prairie AirHogs) in May 2008 and finished their inaugural season with a final record of 56–40, also winning the Southern Division title before falling to the Sioux Falls Canaries in the finals. A few years later, they would win the 2011 American Association championship by winning a decisive game five at QuikTrip Park. The AirHogs folded in October 2020. The AirHogs hosted the American Association All-Star Game on July 21, 2009.

Dallas Desire

The Dallas Desire were one of two teams that were introduced to the women's Lingerie Football League (now

Legends Football League The Extreme Football League (X League) is a women's Semi-professional sports, semi-professional indoor American football league operating in the United States. The league was originally founded in 2009 as the Lingerie Football League (LFL), and ...

) in 2004. They played two home games of their 2009 season in Grand Prairie. The team then moved to the Cotton Bowl for the 2010 season.

Texas United

In 2017, new

(PDL) soccer team Texas United announced that they would play their inaugural season at Airhogs Stadium.

Southern Arkansas University Muleriders

The Mulerider baseball team used Airhog Stadium to host their Airhog DII Classic from 2015 to 2018. This event has featured several of the top teams in NCAA DII College Baseball.

Other

NJCAA The National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) is the governing association of community college, State college (disambiguation), state college, and junior college athletics throughout the United States. Currently the NJCAA holds 24 sepa ...

Region V Baseball Tournament: 2013 * WAC baseball tournament:

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...

Division II College World Series: 2017

Gallery

File:QuikTripParknearcomplete.JPG, Picture of the first base side two weeks before opening day 2008 File:Quiktrip airhogs2.jpg, Picture of action during an AirHogs game on Aug 16, 2008 File:Quiktrip panorama.jpg, Panoramic picture taken from center field. File:Smile Empty Soul SXSW2014.jpg,

Smile Empty Soul Smile Empty Soul is an American Rock music, rock band, originally from Santa Clarita, California, Santa Clarita, California, United States. It was started in 1998 by Sean Danielsen (vocals and guitar), Ryan Martin (bass), and Derek Gledhill (dru ...

performing at South by So What?! music festival in March 2014 File:One Soul SXSW 2013 002.jpg, Dallas alternative rock ensemble One Soul performing at South by So What?! on October 26, 2013

References

External links

Grand Prairie Stadium - Major League CricketTexas AirHogs
{{Premier Development League stadiums Buildings and structures in Grand Prairie, Texas Multi-purpose stadiums in the United States Minor league baseball venues Baseball venues in Texas Baseball venues in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex Sports in Grand Prairie, Texas 2008 establishments in Texas Sports venues completed in 2008 Soccer venues in Texas Cricket grounds in the United States