After 128 years, cricket will be part of the Olympics again. The sport will be represented again at the 2028 Games in Los Angeles, the IOC General Assembly decided. Baseball/softball, flag football, lacrosse and squash are also included in the program.
The General Assembly of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has approved the program proposals of the organizers of the 2028 Summer Games in Los Angeles and cleared the way for the Olympic cricket comeback in Mumbai. The sport, which is particularly popular in India, is returning after 128 years, and baseball/softball, flag football, lacrosse and squash are also included in the program. The IOC members decided this on Monday (October 16, 2023).
More than 10,500 athletes
The Summer Games in LA will break the previous limit of 10,500 athletes by adding four new team sports. No sport has to give way, both the modern pentathlon with the discipline of steeplechase instead of show jumping and weightlifting after a reform of the anti-doping fight received the blessing of the executive branch around IOC President Thomas Bach on Friday. The decision about boxing is pending.
According to a report by the industry portal insidethegames, the IOC’s TV revenue in India from cricket will increase from $20 to $150 million. India is considered the market of the future; Prime Minister Narendra Modi has announced a bid for the Olympics in 2036. “India will turn every stone in its efforts to organize the 2036 Games,” the 73-year-old assured on Saturday. The IOC session took place in the world’s most populous country for the first time in 40 years.
Cricket was Olympic in 1900
The only time cricket was included in the Olympics was in Paris in 1900, when there was only one game between France and Great Britain. Squash had recently applied four times in vain and is celebrating its Olympic premiere in Los Angeles, as is flag football, the physical version of American football. Lacrosse was part of the Olympic program in 1904 and 1908, baseball/softball most recently in Tokyo in 2021. “We want LA 2028 to be a springboard for the five sports,” said Casey Wasserman, head of the organizing committee for the summer games after next.