The NFL’s ongoing push for worldwide exposure got another boost Monday when organizers for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics delivered a proposal to put flag football on the program when the Summer Games return to the United States for the first time in 32 years.
The International Olympic Committee will vote on the proposal at meetings in Mumbai, India, that begin later this week. Also on the LA proposal were baseball and softball, which have been bouncing on and off the program for decades; lacrosse; squash; and cricket — a fitting contrast to flag football in that it is virtually unknown in the United States but immensely popular over wide swaths of the globe.
LA chairman Casey Wasserman said the new sports are “relevant, innovative and community-based, played in backyards, schoolyards, community centers, stadiums and parks across the U.S. and the globe.”
Flag football is a less-violent cousin of America’s most popular sport, one the NFL has been selling in Europe, Mexico and Japan for decades. This year, the NFL placed three games in London and two games in Germany on its schedule.
Flag football, in which “tackles” are made by pulling a flag off a belt worn by each player, would be a 5-on-5 affair played on a 50-yard field. There are no offensive and defensive linemen. At the World Games last year, the U.S. men won the gold medal but the women fell to Mexico in the final.
While flag football will feel familiar to the home fans, cricket will be a steep learning curve. Hugely popular in India, Australia and Britain, it is virtually unknown in the United States. A version called Twenty20 — a shorter version of the original game — is proposed for the schedule in Los Angeles. Cricket was played once before at the Olympics — in Paris in 1900.
Not included in the LA program is breakdancing, which will be a one-and-done after its debut in Paris next year. Others not making the cut: motorsports, kickboxing and karate.
Unclear is whether other sports will have to trim the number of disciplines to help the IOC adhere to the limit it set of 10,500 athletes at a Summer Olympics. The addition of five team sports will inflate the number of participants.
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