Finally, cricket has won its struggles to be included in the Olympics as the sport has been added to the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic programme, as per the Guardian. Also added to the programme are flag football, baseball, and softball.
The LA organizing committee is expected to go public with its choice of sports for the Games shortly, with suggestions that lacrosse and potentially squash could also be proposed as additional sports for 2028.
Its decision, which follows intense discussions between LA and the IOC’s Olympic programme commission, will be officially confirmed at the 141st IOC session in Mumbai, which begins on Sunday.
Cricket will be once again played in the Olympics after 128 years. The game was last played in the 1900 Paris Olympics with England defeating France in a single match for the gold medal.
In Los Angeles, there will be a T20 men’s and women’s tournament that will open up a potentially lucrative commercial market in the Asian subcontinent.
While negotiations have not always been easy between the IOC and LA, including cricket makes financial and sporting sense for all sides.
In India, the current Olympic broadcast rights for individual games are reported to be worth £15.6m ($20m) for Paris 2024. However, experts told the Guardian that, depending on the format and the number of guaranteed matches for India, this figure could rise to £150m if cricket was included in Los Angeles.
(The Guardian inputs)
