Cricket, baseball/softball, lacrosse, flag football and squash are expected to be part of the competition program at the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles. The organizers in Los Angeles announced this on Monday. However, the International Olympic Committee still has to approve this decision. This is to take place at the IOC session in Mumbai, India, which begins on Sunday and is considered a formality.
“The sports proposed by LA28 stimulate imagination on the field and promote culture. They are relevant, innovative and community-focused and are played in backyards, schoolyards, community centers, stadiums and parks across the U.S. and around the world,” said LA28 Chairman Casey Wasserman. “They will bring new athletes to the Games and expand the fan base as well as leverage the Games’ presence in the digital space.” The Los Angeles Games will take place from July 14th to 30th, 2028.
Do other sports have to be reduced?
The only time cricket was played at the Olympic Games was in Paris in 1900. At that time there was only one game for gold, which England won against France. A tournament for women and men is to be held in Los Angeles in a shorter version (Twenty 20) than the original. According to industry experts, the Olympic broadcast rights for cricket are worth a good 175 million euros. The Cricket World Cup is currently underway in India – the six-week title fights in the sport, which is considered the second largest in the world, are generating great interest not only in the host country. Cricket is also very popular in Australia and Great Britain.
Lacrosse was featured at the 1904 St. Louis Olympics and the 1908 London Games. Baseball and the women’s version of softball have been part of the Olympic program several times, most recently at the Games in Tokyo 2021. Flag football – a low-contact version of American football – will be played at the Olympics for the first time. Squash has never been part of the Olympic program either, but in the fifth attempt it seems to have worked.
Pierre Trochet, President of the International Flag Football Federation (IFAF), thanked the organizers for their “foresight” in selecting flag football for their list of suggestions. In particular, the National Football League (NFL), the sports league with the highest sales in the world, in which American football is played in the contact version, has recently supported flag football with enormous effort and has repeatedly brought it into the public spotlight. Among other things, this year’s Super Bowl, the NFL finale watched by hundreds of millions of people worldwide.
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It is still unclear whether other sports will have to reduce their participation in order to help the IOC meet its limit of 10,500 athletes at the Summer Olympics. The addition of the five team sports could significantly increase the number of participants.
