Cricket will be one of five new sports at the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, organizers announced on Monday. A vote at the International Olympic Committee meeting in Mumbai approved cricket, along with baseball/softball, flag football, squash and lacrosse. The IOC’s board of governors last week accepted a proposal from LA organizers to include Twenty20 cricket, the sport’s shortest format, along with the four other new events. But the final choice was yet to be voted on on Monday at the IOC session in Mumbai, one of the global centers for cricket, as India hosts the Men’s Over-50 Cricket World Cup.
Los Angeles leaders have proposed a six-team event for both men’s and women’s T20 cricket.
The proposal of the Organizing Committee of the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games (@LA28) to include five new sports in the program has been accepted by the IOC session.
Baseball/softball, cricket (T20), flag football, lacrosse (sixes) and squash are on the program during…
— IOC MEDIA (@iocmedia) October 16, 2023
The United States will host, but no final decision has been made on the number of teams or how they will qualify.
Cricket was last seen at the 1900 Olympic Games in Paris, when a team from Great Britain defeated a side representing France.
Adding cricket to the Olympic program is an obvious move financially.
It would tap into the lucrative South Asian market and attract fans in countries such as India and Pakistan.
The Indian Premier League, featuring cricket’s global stars, has helped India become the sport’s undisputed economic powerhouse, thanks to legions of fans and lucrative broadcast deals in a country where the game is almost a religion.
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