Eisenhower Park's T20 World Cup Cricket area still closed to the public after nearly a year

More than 4,000 of Long Island's best runners will descend on Eisenhower Park in East Meadow this weekend for the 51st annual Long Island Marathon, flanked by screaming supporters, live music, food trucks and a health and fitness expo.

But just across the road from the starting line, the atmosphere on a huge swath of the island's largest park is anything but festive and the land remains completely inaccessible to the public.

Nearly a year after hosting the T20 World Cup Cricket tournament, a major section of parkland by Parking Field 6A — where a temporary 34,000-seat stadium once stood — continues to be fenced off to the public. The lush grassy fields, once popular with sunbathers, children and Long Islanders playing pickup football or soccer games, have been replaced with acres of nothing but soil.

And county officials said the earliest the area could reopen to the public is the fall.

Seba Cosby, 75, of Roosevelt, who visits the park daily to exercise, often with her kids and grandchildren, said Eisenhower's condition is disappointing. 

"Obviously it doesn't look very nice," Cosby said as she held mini dumbbells in either hand. "I'm paying taxes ... Do something. Fix the park for everyone."

Maria Ramirez, 46, of Uniondale, who was walking past the fenced-off dirt fields while walking her dog Cooper, agrees.

"They need to do something better," Ramirez said of the county.

The closed off area stretches from the outskirts of the Aquatic Center to near the mini golf course and batting cages and encompasses a large grassy field that once included two baseball diamonds.

Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman's office told Newsday that 9,000 cubic yards of topsoil is being spread on the fields. Simultaneously, a new softball field, with backstop and sideline fencing, is being constructed in the southwest corner of the space. The grounds will also be upgraded, officials said, to add space for youth, recreational and higher-level cricket matches.

Seeding, county officials said, will begin after irrigation system upgrades are completed. The fencing is expected to be removed and the space returned for public usage by early fall, provided the weather cooperates and the grass quickly regrows, officials said.

Legis. Seth Koslow of Merrick, Blakeman's Democratic challenger for the county executive seat this November, blamed his Republican opponent for not doing more last fall to begin seeding and preparing the fields so they'd be ready by the spring or summer.

"It's indicative of his entire administration," Koslow said in an interview. "I don't think there was any forethought whatsoever. [Blakeman] wanted to get the headlines for the cricket stadium. And he got them. And after it was over, we're left to pick up the pieces."

Restoration of the grounds began in mid-August, requiring the removal of more than 15,000 tons of concrete, on which the stadium sat and where walkways were built, Blakeman's office said.

County officials said rehabilitation of the fields could not continue during the winter as the ground was initially too soft, then frozen, and soft again in the spring. Work resumed in March.

"Seth apparently doesn't know that grass doesn't grow in the winter," said Blakeman spokesman Chris Boyle. "It's been less than one year since the cricket stadium was closed."

Teams that used the field before 2024 have all been relocated to other county parks, officials said.

The Eisenhower Park fields have been fenced off since around March 2024, when workers erected a modular stadium to host crickets' T20 World Cup, a 12-day international tournament held last June that attracted spectators and competitors from across the globe.

The stadium, which was disassembled by end the July, cost T20 Incorporated, the organization which helped run the tournament, an estimated $30 million, officials said at the time. It was not clear if T20 contributed to the cost to restore the park to its previous condition.

Nassau officials said the tournament was expected to generate as much as $160 million in regional economic impact although they did not provide Newsday with the underlying data for that estimate.

A 2023 agreement between the county and T20 imposed no fee for the use of county parkland but stipulated that T20 pay the county $125,000 for each of the eight matches at Eisenhower to reimburse for staffing. T20 was also required to pay the county net parking revenue from fans who drove to the matches.

Attendance across the eight matches was 156,719, according to tournament organizers.

Susan and Sal Costagliola, both 70, of East Meadow, walked past the closed-off fields Friday morning while pushing their 21-month-old grandson,  Theo, in a stroller.

"It's very disappointing that it took so long to fix this," Susan Costagliola said. "Usually when we come by maybe one tractor would be working. But because they have the marathon, I think they stepped it up. But it should have been done long ago."

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.