Cricket looks to have won the toss to secure itself a spot in the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, along with squash, lacrosse, flag football, and baseball/softball.
After months of speculation and intense discussions between LA and the ICO’s Olympic Programme Commission, the decision was always one likely to happen, given the IOC’s desire to tap into India’s huge market.
With Olympic broadcast rights in India reportedly currently worth £15.6m for Paris next year, the inclusion of cricket could see this figure rise dramatically to £150m.
However, this is not the first time that cricket will have been featured in the Olympic games.
The sport was featured as a part of the 1900 Olympics when England and France played just one single match.
Chair of the International Cricket Council (ICC) Greg Barclay has spoken at his elation at the decision to have cricket featured in the 2028 games.
He said: “We are delighted that LA28 have recommended cricket for inclusion in the Olympics.
“While this is not the final decision, it is a very significant landmark towards seeing cricket at the Olympics for the first time in more than a century.”
The recommendation would be reviewed and ratified later this week by the IOC at its executive board meeting between October 12 and 14.
In the spirit of the game and since the Cricket World Cup is in full swing, what better time than now to look at what we know so far.
So what format will be used?
It will be the T20 format used in the Olympics for both the men’s and women’s teams involved.
What is T20 cricket?
T20 cricket is a match format where every team has one innings to secure as many runs as they want within a period of 20 overs (120 balls).
It has been designed with different rules to speed up the passage and flow of play to create more intense and exciting matches – perfect for the Olympic games.
When will the final decision be confirmed for definite?
There will be a meeting between October 12th and 14th in India, during the Cricket World Cup, where the IOC will approve for definite.
