T20 World Cup Cricket tournament: Nassau drops lawsuit arguing organizers failed to restore county parks to original condition, court records show

A lawsuit that argued the operators of the T20 cricket tournament failed to restore Eisenhower and Cantiague parks to their original condition following the 2024 global event, and that Nassau County should receive $2 million held in escrow because of an alleged breach of contract, has been dropped, court records show.

The suit, filed in Nassau State Supreme Court in February, argued the T20 organizers failed to meet a July 31, 2024, deadline to remove temporary fencing around the Eisenhower Park site that had been home to a 34,000-seat temporary cricket stadium; to restore a Cantiague Park practice field or to provide reimbursement to the county for parking revenue from the tournament.

Nassau had sued Cowan, DeBaets, Abrahams & Sheppard LLP, which represented the T20 organizers, asking the court to release to the county $2 million held in escrow by the Manhattan-based law firm, citing breaches of the use and occupancy permit.

But last week, both sides submitted a two-paragraph memo to the court stipulating the lawsuit had been dropped.

The court filing, which comes after both sides sought four consecutive extensions with the court as they attempted to resolve the case, provided no details about the nature of the settlement.

Chris Boyle, spokesman for Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, said the lawsuit was dropped after the park remediation was competed. The two sites, he said, should reopen to the public in the near future.

"All obligations to remediate both Cantiague and Eisenhower Parks were done according to the agreement and we are grateful for our partnership in bringing this world class event to our county," Blakeman said in a statement.

Repair work at the two county parks, Boyle said, was fully paid by T20 and involved no taxpayer dollars.

Attorneys with Cowan, DeBaets, Abrahams & Sheppard and their counsel in the case, along with a T20 spokesperson, did not respond to requests for comment.

Deputy Nassau County Attorney Dave DeBaun previously told Newsday that settlement negotiations were ongoing in the case and that efforts to restore Eisenhower and Cantiague parks to their pre-tournament condition would not be impacted by the lawsuit.

Newsday reported in May that a massive field at Eisenhower Park, near Parking Field 6A — where the stadium once stood — was fenced off for repairs and would not be accessible to the public until fall at the earliest. Newsday visited the site Monday and found fencing around the property remains although the grass appears to be fully grown and construction work has been completed.

The Cantiague practice field, meanwhile, remains fenced off and unavailable for public use even as its condition appears much improved, according to a visit Monday by Newsday.

The $2 million held in escrow, DeBaun previously said, is "security for the performance of the repair work. It will be reconciled once the work is completed."

In October 2023, the county and T20 signed an agreement allowing Eisenhower to host eight matches in the men's T20 World Cup, a 12-day international cricket tournament held in June 2024 that attracted spectators and competitors from across the world.

T20 built the temporary stadium on 19 acres of land at Eisenhower and was also given access to two fields in the northeast corner of Cantiague Park in Hicksville as a practice facility for competitors.

The use and occupancy permit, included as part of the lawsuit, stated that the organizer was "responsible for returning all lands and property used for the presentation of the event to their prior condition."

T20 agreed to put $2 million in escrow to guarantee the performance of the contract, including removing all "temporary structures" related to the event by July 31, 2024.

While the stadium was taken down by the deadline, temporary fencing around the property was not, "denying Nassau County access to Field 6 and adjacent parking and interfering with park activity, including but not limited to an upcoming series of 5K running events," according to an Aug. 22, 2024, letter from Deputy County Attorney Richard Soleymanzadeh to T20 and its attorneys. "The fencing is also creating the potential safety hazard of requiring county residents to walk on the adjacent road."

By Robert Brodsky

robert.brodsky@newsday.com@BrodskyRobert

Robert Brodsky is a breaking news reporter who has worked at Newsday since 2011. He is a Queens College and American University alum.