Cricket will be one of the 33 sports to feature at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics. Recommended by the LA Local Organising Committee (LOCOG), the proposal was rubber stamped by the International Olympic Committee’s members who voted on Monday in Mumbai.
Five new sports – cricket, baseball/softball, flag football, lacrosse and squash – were recommended as a package by LA LOCOG, which was approved over the weekend by the IOC’s executive board. On Monday, the IOC voted unanimously in favour of including all the five sports, with just two members voting against. “The proposal is approved,” IOC president Thomas Bach said at the session in Mumbai.
Speaking ahead of the IOC vote, Niccolo Campriani, director of LA LOCOG, said cricket was “easy” to pitch to IOC as one of the five new sports to be added to LA28. Campriani said that the T20 format, which the ICC proposed as the format to LA28, “is making the game fast, full of action and appealing to the younger crowd”.
Olympics, as a brand, is universally known and is vastly popular. But like all sporting organisations, the IOC, too has been looking at attracting both new audiences and financial capital. To that effect, Campriani, who won three Olympic gold medals while representing Italy in shooting, noted cricket’s global reach and its vastly popular players like India batter Virat Kohli, who is an idol for the youth both in India and countries where the game is played.
Campriani also said that with the men’s T20 World Cup to be co-hosted by the West Indies and the USA, along with the successful launch of Major League Cricket in the USA earlier this year, cricket would not anymore be a niche sport, especially even in Los Angeles.
“We are thrilled to welcome the world’s second-most popular sport with an estimated 2.5 billion fans worldwide,” Campriani said. “Some of you might be wondering why in LA? Well, the commitment to grow cricket in the US is real, and it’s already happening with the launch of the very first Major League Cricket season earlier this year, which exceeded all expectations. And the [men’s] T20 World Cup in 2024 coming to US and West Indies.”
Campriani echoed the IOC president Thomas Bach’s comment that inclusion of cricket was a “win-win” for both the sport, and the Olympics programme.
“We all recognise the critical importance of a strong digital presence in order to keep the games relevant for the youth. And cricket is offering a unique platform to do so,” Campriani said. “Think [about] my friend here Virat. He’s the third-most followed athlete in the world on social media with 314 million followers. That’s more than LeBron James, Tom Brady and Tiger Woods combined. This is the ultimate win-win for LA 28.
“The IOC and the cricket community as cricket will be showcased on a global stage to grow beyond the traditional cricket countries, while the Olympic movement gains access to previously untapped communities of athletes and fans. It’s a great example of how one can reach the other.”
More to follow…
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