Proposed cricket stadium at GMU faces opposition from students, neighbors

Students and neighbors of George Mason University are rallying in opposition to a proposed facility for Washington's newly formed professional cricket team.

It would be a partnership between the school and the Washington Freedom.

GMU said it also could be an opportunity to move its successful baseball team out of an aging field and share a 5,000-person stadium on west campus.

Student body Vice President Nell Palumbo just learned about it a few days ago.

"They're usually pretty proud of things that benefit students and really happy to advertise them, so the fact that this is so under the table has been very suspicious to me and a lot of other students on campus," she said.

Neighbors are suspicious, too. Cricket is played on a 360-degree grass field, and neighbors can't understand why the university is suggesting putting a diamond inside a circular stadium.

"We're not against a baseball field,” said Geoff Keller, who lives across the road from the proposed site. “We would love a baseball field. We would lead the effort to get a baseball field. This is a cricket stadium with 10,000 fans that have no ties to the school and no ties to the state of Virginia, even."

He and his neighbors have sent hundreds of comments to the university asking for answers and an explanation of why things are moving so fast.

The Washington Freedom wants to move quickly enough to host professional matches this year.

"Completely understandable why people are frustrated,” GMU spokesman Paul Allvin said. “I get that. So, what we're doing now is playing catch up in a process that would normally stretch out longer. It's more compressed."

If the project moves forward, the university would keep ownership of the land, but the cricket team would build the temporary stadium consisting of no permanent structures, Allvin said.

“Nothing is decided there,” he said. “Nothing has been signed. We are in conversation. We continue to be in conversation. We will take as long as it takes to get the right decision."

Neighbors hope that's the case but are skeptical.

"Right now, I think pause is the right answer,” said Maribeth Malloy, who lives across the street. “Do I think that will happen? I do not."

Neighbors fear a quick, massive change to the west campus would change their community for years.

According to the university, professional cricket would only host a few matches per year.

GMU held one town hall event and says it's planning more community engagement sessions, but so far, none has been scheduled.