USA Cricket presents key proposed constitution amendments

• USA Cricket Board presents proposed amended constitution approved by the Board unanimously for review ahead of voting by its Individual Members.
• Amending the constitution represents the first step in seeking NGB certification for Cricket with the USOPC.
• USA Cricket to host virtual town halls to address clarification questions by its membership.
• Voting on the proposed amended constitution begins January 29, 2024 and ends February 05, 2024 at 11:59pm PT.

At its meeting on January 13, 2024, the USA Cricket Board unanimously approved the proposed amendments to the constitution, with all ten (10) members present, at a validly called meeting of the Board. Per Article 18.2 of the current constitution, Articles 6, 7, 8, 9, and 18 require the approval of the Individual Members of USA Cricket to ratify the amendments.

The Board of Directors believes the proposed amendments to the USA Cricket Constitution (the “Proposed Amendments”) are necessary for several reasons.  First, with cricket being added to the Olympics to be held in Los Angeles in 2028, USA Cricket will be applying to the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee (“USOPC”) for recognition as the National Governing Body for the sport of cricket in the United States.  In order to obtain such approval, the Constitution must meet a number of requirements of the USOPC, and the Proposed Amendments are designed to comply with those requirements.

Second, the Board of Directors believes that the Proposed Amendments are necessary to strengthen its governance and to provide important protections to ensure that elections are held on time and that member rights are honored and respected.

Membership is requested to review and familiarize itself with the Proposed Amendments ahead of the voting period. The Proposed Amendments are set forth in a marked-up format with the amendments by USA Cricket, highlighted in blue, and the amendments based on the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee (“USOPC”) governance requirements, highlighted in red. The proposed deletions are in strike-through format. There is also a clean version of the proposed amended constitution for ease of reading.

“I’m pleased that the USA Cricket Board unanimously approved the proposed amendment,” said Steve Smith, legal counsel to USA Cricket.  “With cricket being added to the Olympic Games, the next milestone for USAC is to be recognized by the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee as the National Governing Body for the sport of cricket in the U.S.  This process will take some time, but one of the first steps is that USA Cricket revises its Constitution to comply with the various requirements of the USOPC.  The proposed amendments, once adopted, will complete this important first step in the process.”

Board Member and Constitution Review Working Group (“CRWG”) Chair Nadia Gruny, said, “This proposed amended constitution sets the stage for USA Cricket to align with the standards set by the USOPC and will enable us to be a stronger and healthier governing body for cricket in the US and within the Olympic and Paralympic movement. My appreciation to the CRWG for the invaluable contributions and tireless efforts in this review process over the past four months, as well as the feedback from the Board and membership. Your contributions are instrumental in shaping the future of our governance.”

Upon the ratification of the Proposed Amendments by the Individual Members of USA Cricket, the constitution would be effective immediately and changes related to the USOPC requirements would be implemented over the remaining year, as USA Cricket prepares to submit the application to the USOPC for NGB status in Q4 of this year.

Virtual Town Halls 

To support the adoption of the Proposed Amendments, members of USA Cricket are invited to tune in to https://youtube.com/USACricket for a virtual town hall. Members will have the opportunity to ask clarifying questions. See schedule below:

• Sunday, January 28, 2024 at 6pm PT | 9pm ET
• Thursday, February 1, 2024 at 6pm PT | 9pm ET.

Voter Eligibility 

Individual Members of USA Cricket who meet the following criteria would be eligible to vote:

• Must be a paid Individual member.
• Must have a primary email address registered.
• Must be 18 years or older (Cut off December 31^st, 2005).
• Must be a registered member before Jan 1, 2022, and must have renewed their membership and dues by Dec 31, 2023.

Individual Members are requested to review the list of eligible voters. If your name is missing and you believe it should be on the list, email membership@usacricket.org by Sunday, January 28, 2024 at 6pm PT | 9pm ET with the subject line, Voter Eligibility and your USAC ID in the body of the email.

Election Buddy, the election provider the USAC/NGC has used in prior elections, will conduct the voting on the Proposed Amendments. Each eligible voter would receive an electronic ballot by email from invitations@mail.electionbuddy.com. The email ballot will come with instructions on how to complete voting, which each voter should follow. Importantly, it is the responsibility of each voter to ensure that the email ballot and any communication from invitations@mail.electionbuddy.com to their email account is not filtered away as spam or junk email.

Review Documents

• Summary of Key Proposed Amendments
• Proposed Amended Constitution (marked-up version)
• Proposed Amended Constitution (clean version)
• Current USA Cricket Constitution

FOR MORE DETAILS CONTACT

Email: media@usacricket.org

ABOUT USA CRICKET 

USA Cricket is the National Federation for cricket in the United States as recognized by the International Cricket Council. USA Cricket’s mission is to govern, regulate, develop and promote all forms of cricket at all levels in the United States, and to enable U.S. cricketers to achieve sustained competitive excellence and successfully compete in national and international competition. Through a diverse Board of Directors that has representation from most cricket stakeholder groups, USA Cricket will lead the sport to new heights by creating and administering value added programs to grow and develop the sport.