The dates of season four of Major League Cricket (MLC 2026) season have been announced on Wednesday, September 10. The season will kick off from June 18 to July 18, 2026. Like the previous editions, the six-team tournament will feature 34 games in total. However, despite the MLC's season four announcement, there is no public confirmation from USA Cricket (USAC) on whether it has revoked termination of its contract with American Cricket Enterprises (ACE), the owners of the league.
For the unversed, the ban on (ACE) has been imposed for over three months, with ICC also giving USA cricket six months to clean up the mess they have created. However, the players have not been communicated with properly by the USA, and they are tense about their future. Corey Anderson, who is the operational director of the USA Cricketers' Association, which is not under USAC.
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Coming back to MLC, since its third season, the league has opted for a window in June-July that sees no other clash with global T20 competitions, allowing a wider pool of foreign players to contest. The first edition of MLC saw 19 matches, which expanded to 25 matches in 2024, and later to a 34-match event in the 2025 season. MLC is now set to avoid a clash with The Hundred for the second consecutive year. While the Hundred's date for season six has not been revealed yet, ESPNCricinfo reports that the season could begin from July 21 to August 16.
MLC chief executive Johnny Grave happy with the league's success
"Season 3 showed that demand for top-tier cricket in the USA is real and accelerating," Johnny Grave, MLC chief executive, said in a statement. "MLC is winning new fans, followers, and viewers throughout the USA and around the world. We're delivering on our promise to grow the game across the USA and build relations with new and existing commercial partners."
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According to MLC, ACE is now setting sights on ten international standard venues by 2030 with investments up to a whopping US 150 million committed.
The six franchises in MLC are Los Angeles Knight Riders (owned by Knight Riders Group), MI New York (Indiawin Sports), San Francisco Unicorns (Anand Rajaraman, Venky Harinarayan), Seattle Orcas (GMR Group, Satya Nadella, S Somasegar), Texas Super Kings (Chennai Super Kings, Anurag Jain, Ross Perot Jr) and Washington Freedom (Sanjay Govil). The MLC is also planning to implement two new franchises by the 2027 season, with a possible option of Canada being explored.
The 2025 edition of MLC saw the Nicholos Pooran-led MI New York bag their second title in the brief history of the league. They beat Washington Freedom, who managed to reach consecutive finals of MLC by five runs.
