Yorkshire County Cricket Club announced that Headingley will become the first stadium in the world to "install a state-of-the-art retractable roofing system in an ambitious commitment that heralds a revolution" in the game, according to ESPN. The roof -- the substantial cost of which has "yet to be revealed -- will become the centrepiece of Headingley's new North/South Stand," and is due to be built in time for the 2019 World Cup and an Ashes Test against Australia. In what must rank as a "colossal financial gamble" for a county £22M ($32.6M) in debt, the new technology will be incorporated into the design of the new Rugby Stand and will "retract across the entire playing area" ensuring that no days of play will be lost to inclement weather. ESPNcricinfo is "one of the major sponsors." U.K Editor David Hopps said, "ESPN has a proud history of investing heavily in English cricket and this is just the sort of daring scheme that attracts us." The old Rugby Stand was "part condemned at the turn of the year and until now had become an embarrassment." The "All Sip" roof system has been "developed over the past three years" in the city of Gelsenkirchen in the Ruhr Valley, Germany. Work on Headingley's new North/South Stand is "set to commence" in '17 (ESPN, 4/1).
