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IOC confirms cricket as one of five new sports at 2028 Los Angeles Olympics

Cricket will feature as one of five new sports at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, organisers announced Monday.

A vote of the International Olympic Committee’s session in Mumbai approved cricket, together with baseball/softball, flag football, squash and lacrosse.

The IOC’s executive board last week accepted a proposal by organisers for Twenty20 cricket, the sport’s shortest format, to be included along with the four other new events at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.

But the final choice still had to be voted on Monday at the IOC session in Mumbai, one of the global centres for cricket, as India hosts the men’s 50-over Cricket World Cup.

Los Angeles chiefs have proposed a six-team cricket event in Olympics, in both men’s and women’s T20 cricket.

The United States is set to field sides as the host nation, but no firm decision has been made on the number of teams, or how they will qualify.

Cricket last featured at the 1900 Paris Olympics, when a team from Britain beat a side representing France.

Adding cricket to the Olympic programme is an obvious move, financially speaking.

It would tap into the lucrative South Asian market, attracting fans in countries such as India and Pakistan.

The Indian Premier League, featuring cricket’s global stars, has helped India become the unquestioned economic driving force of the sport, thanks to legions of fans and lucrative broadcasting deals in a nation where the game is almost a religion.

Meanwhile, Major League Cricket, a professional Twenty20 League, launched in the United States in July.

“It’s a win-win situation,” International Cricket Council chairman Greg Barclay told reporters in Mumbai of cricket’s inclusion in the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.

“It’s a massive day for cricket,” the New Zealander added.

“We’ve got global sport, what I think is the fastest-growing global sport, but getting onto the biggest sporting stage in the world, the Olympics, is a massive shot in the arm for the game.”

But the IOC said Monday the status of boxing at the 2028 Games remains “on hold” after it stripped the International Boxing Association (IBA) of its recognition following a dispute over how the sport is governed.

Boxing has been part of every Olympics since 1920 and will feature at next year’s Paris Games.

But in June, the IBA was effectively expelled from the Olympic movement following a bitter dispute between Games chiefs and its Russian president, Umar Kremlev.

That move came following concerns over the credibility of IBA-sanctioned tournaments, as well as the boxing governing body’s finances and governance.

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Cricket set for Olympics return at Los Angeles 2028

Cricket’s long Olympics exile could finally come to an end this week when Games chiefs meet in Mumbai to finalise the programme for Los Angeles 2028.

Twenty-eight sports are already confirmed on the schedule but cricket was one of five new sports formally proposed for inclusion by organisers for the Los Angeles Olympics on Monday.

The International Cricket Council’s proposal is for men’s and women’s Twenty20 competitions — the shortest form of the international game.

“We are delighted that LA28 have recommended cricket for inclusion in the Olympics,” ICC chairman Greg Barclay said.

“Whilst this is not the final decision, it is a very significant landmark towards seeing cricket at the Olympics for the first time in more than a century.”

If it makes the cut, it would be the first time cricket has featured since 1900, when a team from Britain beat a side representing France in Paris.

Since then it has been in the Olympic wilderness, in part because cricket itself was quite happy to stand aside from the Games.

But in recent years the ICC has made clear it wants to be part of the global showpiece — a move that could turbo-charge the sport and help it exploit new markets.

“Our sport is united behind this bid, and we see the Olympics as a part of cricket’s long-term future,” Barclay said in 2021.

“We have more than a billion fans globally and almost 90 percent of them want to see cricket at the Olympics.”

The game has had support from the highest places in the Olympic movement.

Late ICC president Jacques Rogge said in 2011: “We would welcome an application. It (cricket) is an important, popular sport and very powerful on television.”

The current president, Thomas Bach, has also backed the inclusion of cricket, which featured at last year’s Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.

This week the IOC executive board is meeting in Mumbai, ahead of a full IOC session from October 15 to October 17, which would effectively rubberstamp the decision.

Cricket could not have asked for a better city in which to make its case.

The IOC session is being held in one of the hotbeds of the sport as India hosts the men’s 50-over World Cup.

Cricket, with its multiple formats and quirky rules, has long been a source of curiosity in areas of the world where it is not played.

But the global language of cold, hard cash is easier to understand.

The arguments that Olympic cricket would clash with the English season or that the game takes too long look increasingly outdated.

The global calendar is now a mishmash of international cricket, domestic cricket and franchise cricket, with multiple formats jostling for attention.

The wildly popular T20 Indian Premier League, which has spawned several other franchise competitions worldwide, means traditional five-day Test cricket, long regarded as the pinnacle of the game, no longer holds sway.

The IPL, featuring global superstars, has helped India become the unquestioned economic driving force of cricket, thanks to legions of fans and lucrative broadcasting deals in a nation where the game is almost a religion.

Adding cricket to the Olympic programme is an obvious move, financially speaking.

It would tap into the lucrative South Asian market, attracting fans in countries such as India and Pakistan that have not traditionally been strong in the core Olympic sports.

It would also potentially help cricket access millions of dollars of public and corporate funding currently reserved for Games sports.

That would benefit emerging cricket nations but could also help cash-strapped established countries such as South Africa.

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Los Angeles Olympics 2028 ‘very likely’ to feature T20 Cricket

Los Angeles Olympics 2028 is ‘very likely’ to mark the return of Cricket as a five-team T20 competition is under consideration for the biggest sporting event, British daily newspaper The Times reported on Tuesday.

In a bid to open up a potentially lucrative commercial market in the Asian subcontinent, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) is deliberate to include men’s and women’s Twenty20 competitions – with gold medals at stake – in the Los Angeles Olympics 2028.

Given cricket’s widespread popularity in countries like India, Bangladesh, and Pakistan, IOC President Thomas Bach is reportedly a huge supporter of its inclusion in the Olympics.

The three nations are not dominant forces in the Olympic games but cricket’s inclusion will attract massive viewership of the tournament in 2028.

The current proposal calls for a men’s and women’s competition with five teams each, with qualifying based on the world rankings of the International Cricket Council (ICC).

Los Angeles Olympics 2028 will be the first to feature cricket since a one-off gold medal match in the 1900 Games in Paris.

Notably, cricket is one of the nine shortlisted sports for the upcoming Los Angeles Olympics 2028, besides baseball/softball, flag football, lacrosse, break dancing, karate, kickboxing, squash and motorsport.

However, a massive roadblock still lies in cricket’s Olympic return after 128 years as the organizers of the game have subjected the move to the addition of Flag Football – a non-contact version of American football.

It is worth mentioning here that T20 cricket has had somewhat of a test run at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham with an eight-team women’s tournament.

Australia claimed the gold medal in the competition with a dominant nine-run victory over India. Whereas, New Zealand won bronze after thrashing England by eight wickets.

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