Mumbai, India Organizers of the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles have selected cricket as one of five new sports.
Cricket, along with baseball/softball, flag football, squash, and lacrosse, was approved by the IOC during its session in Mumbai.
The IOC’s executive board approved a proposal from the LA organizers last week to include Twenty20 cricket, the sport’s shortest format, along with the four other new events.
The men’s 50-over Cricket World Cup will be held in India, so the final decision must still be decided upon at the IOC session on Monday in Mumbai, one of the world’s cricket capitals.
In both men’s and women’s T20 cricket, Los Angeles Chiefs have proposed a six-team competition.
As the host country, the United States is expected to field teams, but it is still uncertain how many teams will participate or how they will be selected.
The last time cricket was a part of an Olympic event was in 1900 in Paris, where a British team defeated a French side.
From a financial standpoint, adding cricket to the Olympic schedule makes sense.
It would tap into the lucrative South Asian market, drawing followers from nations like Pakistan and India.
Thanks to throngs of fans and lucrative broadcasting deals in a country where the sport is practically a religion, India has become the undisputed economic powerhouse of cricket thanks to the Indian Premier League, which features the game’s international stars.
