Cricket, baseball to make a return to Olympic Games

Baseball, cricket (T20), flag football, lacrosse and squash are the five sports submitted by the International Olympic Committee (IOC)’s Executive Board (EB) to the upcoming IOC Session as additional sports for the Olympic Games Los Angeles 2028 (LA28).

“The choice of these five new sports is in line with the American sports culture and will showcase iconic American sports to the world, while bringing international sports to the United States. These sports will make the Olympic Games LA28 unique,” said IOC President Thomas Bach. “Their inclusion will allow the Olympic Movement to engage with new athlete and fan communities in the US and globally.”

This selection of sports is the result of a thorough process and analysis based on evaluation criteria set out before the process began, including gender equality. It considered the utilisation of existing facilities, involving a wide range of sports communities both in the United States and globally, and incorporating some of the most popular sports in the United States and across the globe.

Baseball and softball

Baseball and softball have been part of the programme at several editions of the Olympic Games, most recently at Tokyo 2020. They are among some of the most iconic American sports, while four continents are represented in the world ranking top 10. The recent 2023 World Baseball Classic also set a tournament attendance record, with over 1 million spectators. Baseball and softball both have significant popularity among young people in the United States: baseball has the second highest domestic youth participation, with approximately 2.2 million young participants (aged 13-17), whilst softball features in the top five most popular high school sports for girls in the country.

Cricket

Part of the Olympic Games programme at Paris 1900, cricket has more than 2.5 billion fans worldwide and represents an invaluable opportunity to engage with new countries and communities, including the growing Indian community in the US. Cricket brings a vast social media following, the men’s 2024 Cricket T20 World Cup will be hosted in the USA, and a new major professional league, Major League Cricket, was recently launched in the USA. T20 – with a men’s and a women’s tournament – is the format that would be played at LA28.

Flag football

American football is the most popular sport in the US, and flag football, which would be making its Olympic debut at LA28, is growing fast both domestically and internationally. More children aged 6-12 play flag football than tackle football in the US and, at the elite level, there are approximately 20 million flag football players across over 100 countries, with gender-balanced athlete participation.

Lacrosse

Lacrosse was created by the Indigenous Peoples of North America and started to spread internationally in the 19th century, initially to Great Britain and Australia. Its potential inclusion on the LA28 sports programme (with the sixes format) would be its third appearance at the Olympic Games, after Saint Louis 1904 and London 1908. Its presence at LA28 would provide a unique opportunity to connect its North American heritage with its growing youth appeal. Lacrosse is experiencing tremendous development both in the US and globally, with four continents represented in the world ranking top 10.

Squash

Squash (singles) would be making its Olympic debut at LA28. It is already included in eight other multi-sport events, with four continents represented in the world ranking top 10. The sport has enjoyed spectacular growth over the last few years, especially among young people, with an 87 per cent increase in squash participation between 2015 and 2019 in the United States.

Boxing, modern pentathlon and weightlifting

The IOC EB also reviewed the status of three sports which were not part of the initial sports programme (boxing, modern pentathlon and weightlifting) following the decision by the IOC Session in February 2022 to approve the inclusion of 28 sports on the initial sports programme of the Olympic Games LA28.

The IOC EB recommendation at the time did not propose the inclusion of boxing, modern pentathlon and weightlifting, but rather provided a pathway for the potential inclusion of these three sports to allow the necessary time for the relevant International Federations (IFs) to address their respective individual circumstances and the criteria set by the IOC EB for inclusion.