New Zealand Cricket (NZC) has stepped back from their decision to invest in Major League Cricket (MLC) in 2027.
In April 2025, NZC had announced a partnership with US-based True North Sports (TNS) Ventures, run by MLC co-founders Sameer Mehta and Vijay Srinivasan, to help operate one of the two new teams ahead of the 2027 season. As part of the agreement, NZC was to provide high performance and operational support to the venture.
"Firstly, I want to say that I admire the endeavor and aspiration behind the partnership with TNS," NZC CEO Geoff Allott said in a statement. "There's plenty of potential in the American market, however following further evaluation of the opportunity, we don't think the timing is right for us to be taking this on."
The decision to roll back the arrangement arose from NZC's need to focus resources on opportunities in New Zealand before expanding overseas. The launch of the much-anticipated NZ20, the men's and women's T20 league to replace the existing Super Smash, was also pushed back to December 2027 instead of the original plan of January 2027.
"Our immediate priority is ensuring we continue to invest in strengthening cricket in New Zealand and refining the best possible high-performance environment for our players and teams," Allott said. "I want to thank TNS and MLC co-founders Sameer Mehta and Vijay Srinivasan for allowing us to explore the opportunity and their support in coming to this mutual agreement. We wish them all the best for the future of MLC and have pledged to keep the lines of communication open."
New South Wales and Victoria have already partnered with Washington Freedom and San Francisco Unicorns in the MLC but the NZC deal was on a deeper scale. Rachin Ravindra, Finn Allen, Devon Conway, Tim Seifer and Lockie Ferguson are some of the New Zealand players who have been regulars in the MLC.