Cricket along with several other new sports have been proposed for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games with flag football, baseball/softball, lacrosse and squash also in the mix.
The International Olympic Committee will vote on the proposal at meetings in Mumbai, India, that begin later this week.
However, if the NFL has its way, flag football will be given the nod over cricket, a sport which is virtually unknown in the United States but immensely popular over wide swaths of the globe.
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Baseball and softball are big hits in the US as well and have been bouncing on and off the program for decades, while lacrosse is also immensely popular in the United States.
Cricket has appeared at the Olympics once previously in 1900 in Paris. Lacrosse appeared at the Olympics in 1904 in St Louis, Missouri, and in 1908 in London.
Baseball was introduced as a medal event at the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona with softball being added in 1996 in Atlanta.
Baseball and softball were then removed from Olympic competition after the Beijing Games in 2008. They were reintroduced as a combined sport at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, but will not be part of next year's Paris Olympics.
LA chairman Casey Wasserman said the new sports are “relevant, innovative and community-based, played in backyards, schoolyards, community centres, stadiums and parks across the US and the globe".
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.
Though participation numbers have been declining, there is no bigger spectator sport in the US than gridiron. Bringing its less-violent cousin into the Olympics would mark a huge victory for the NFL, which has been staging games in Europe for more than a decade now and is always looking for ways to grow both its participation and its audience.
One of this season's biggest stories has been pop megastar Taylor Swift's trips to two Chiefs games to watch her friend, tight end Travis Kelce.
“Things have been going at a whipping pace for football," said Bettina Cornwell, a sports business expert at the University of Oregon. “It's a very smart idea to introduce a football-type game on a larger scale with more limelight that will perhaps persuade people that we can do something other than stick to the violent game as it is currently played."
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 aren’t offensive and defensive linemen.
At the World Games last year, the US men won the gold medal while 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. It is almost a complete mystery in the United States.
with CNN
Cricket along with several other new sports have been proposed for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games with flag football, baseball/softball, lacrosse and squash also in the mix.
The International Olympic Committee will vote on the proposal at meetings in Mumbai, India, that begin later this week.
However, if the NFL has its way, flag football will be given the nod over cricket, a sport which is virtually unknown in the United States but immensely popular over wide swaths of the globe.
READ MORE: 'Dicey' World Cup call that could cruel Aussies
READ MORE: Fremantle blindsided by star's Pies request
READ MORE: Netball feud erupts after $1.2 million offer slapped down
Baseball and softball are big hits in the US as well and have been bouncing on and off the program for decades, while lacrosse is also immensely popular in the United States.
Cricket has appeared at the Olympics once previously in 1900 in Paris. Lacrosse appeared at the Olympics in 1904 in St Louis, Missouri, and in 1908 in London.
Baseball was introduced as a medal event at the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona with softball being added in 1996 in Atlanta.
Baseball and softball were then removed from Olympic competition after the Beijing Games in 2008. They were reintroduced as a combined sport at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, but will not be part of next year's Paris Olympics.
LA chairman Casey Wasserman said the new sports are “relevant, innovative and community-based, played in backyards, schoolyards, community centres, stadiums and parks across the US and the globe".
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.
Though participation numbers have been declining, there is no bigger spectator sport in the US than gridiron. Bringing its less-violent cousin into the Olympics would mark a huge victory for the NFL, which has been staging games in Europe for more than a decade now and is always looking for ways to grow both its participation and its audience.
One of this season's biggest stories has been pop megastar Taylor Swift's trips to two Chiefs games to watch her friend, tight end Travis Kelce.
“Things have been going at a whipping pace for football," said Bettina Cornwell, a sports business expert at the University of Oregon. “It's a very smart idea to introduce a football-type game on a larger scale with more limelight that will perhaps persuade people that we can do something other than stick to the violent game as it is currently played."
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 aren’t offensive and defensive linemen.
At the World Games last year, the US men won the gold medal while 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. It is almost a complete mystery in the United States.
with CNN
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