US city offers BCCI land for cricket stadium

By Lalit K Jha, Jersey City (New Jersey), Nov 30: The city of Edison in New Jersey, where about a third of residents are Indian Americans, has offered land to the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to build a cricket stadium.

Edison's Mayor, Jun H Choi, who is highly impressed by the increasing popularity of cricket in the city, made this offer to visiting BCCI vice president Rajeev Shukla, who was in New York as part of the official Indian delegation to the UN.

People familiar with the offer told IANS that once the mayor received an encouraging response from Shukla, he is now in the process of sending a formal proposal to BCCI.

According to the proposal, the details of which are still being worked out, the city would offer the land, while the cost of construction of the stadium and its maintenance could be borne by BCCI.

Choi believes that a cricket stadium in his city would bring in much needed revenue and business. Representing some 30,000 Indian Americans in a city of 100,000, the mayor has developed a keen interest in cricket in recent years.

Several times he has been invited to watch India-Pakistan limited over matches, which are screened live in theatres in his city.

Informed sources said the city has identified a few plots of land for the proposed stadium, which if accepted by the BCCI, could provide it another neutral venue for international cricket matches.

Choi has even allotted a playground to the Edison Cricket Club. At present there are five cricket clubs in this city.