The MLC 2026 season kicks off on June 18 with six teams competing across three US venues, including a new Los Angeles stadium set for the 2028 Olympics.
The upcoming season will get underway on June 18 with the opening match between Texas Super Kings and Seattle Orcas at Grand Prairie Stadium in Dallas. The stadium, located roughly 15 kilometres from Dallas Stadium which is also hosting football World Cup matches, will host the first seven games before the group stage moves to Oakland Coliseum in California and Knight Riders cricket field in Pomona, California, in early July. Grand Prairie Stadium will conclude the group stage while Oakland Coliseum will host all knockout matches, including the final on July 18.
The Knight Riders cricket field in Pomona, California, serves as the home ground for Los Angeles Knight Riders and will stage seven games in the season. The venue is designated as cricket’s Los Angeles home for the 2028 Olympic Games and was described by ICC chief executive Sanjog Gupta in April as 'cricket's home for LA28.'
Six franchises will compete in MLC 2026: Washington Freedom, San Francisco Unicorns, MI New York, Los Angeles Knight Riders, Texas Super Kings and Seattle Orcas.
Three teams are directly owned by IPL franchises, while Seattle Orcas is backed by GMR Group, co-owners of Delhi Capitals.
MI New York enter the season as defending champions after a dramatic title win in 2025 despite winning just one of their first seven matches.
R Ashwin will represent San Francisco Unicorns in MLC 2026, becoming the first former India international to play in the league.
The spinner makes his MLC debut following his international retirement in December 2024 and subsequent exit from IPL after the 2025 season.
Ashwin’s last competitive appearance was the TNPL final in July 2025, though he has prior experience at Grand Prairie Stadium from a March exhibition game.
He was ruled out of the 2025-26 Big Bash League due to a serious knee injury that required surgery.
Steven Smith takes over as captain of Washington Freedom, replacing Glenn Maxwell who missed the previous season due to international commitments.
Smith, who led Freedom to the 2024 title, has scored 1325 runs in 36 innings since then at an average near 45 and strike rate over 155.
Smith will reunite with coach Ricky Ponting at Freedom.
Meanwhile, Matt Short (Unicorns), Faf du Plessis (Texas Super Kings), Nicholas Pooran (MI New York) and Jason Holder (Los Angeles Knight Riders) remain captains for the upcoming season.
Seattle Orcas have named Marcus Stoinis as new captain and Adam Voges as new coach after a winless start to their revamp.
Several players will make their MLC debuts this season, including Australia’s Ollie Peake (Unicorns), New Zealand’s Tim Robinson (Orcas), Afghanistan’s AM Ghazanfar (MI New York) and 41-year-old Peter Siddle (Unicorns).
These newcomers join a competitive roster featuring seasoned T20 stars across all six teams.
Kieron Pollard and Andre Russell, both retired from IPL, remain marquee attractions in other T20 leagues.
Pollard needs just 81 runs to overtake Chris Gayle as the all-time top run-scorer in T20 cricket.
Alex Hales, who plays for Los Angeles Knight Riders, is also closing in on Gayle’s record.
MI New York star Nicholas Pooran aims to rediscover form after a poor IPL 2025 season with Lucknow Super Giants.
Finn Allen, retained by Unicorns, holds the record for the fastest T20 World Cup century off 33 balls and has multiple hundreds in IPL and MLC.
Andries Gous stands out as the most prominent USA player on the franchise circuit, having starred in PSL, CPL and ILT20 where he holds the highest individual score.