The ICC endorses the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Organizing Committee for a T20 event with six men’s and women’s teams, continuing to push cricket to be among the world’s largest sporting events.
There have been reports that cricket has failed to qualify for the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, but ESPNcricinfo understands that no decision has yet been made and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has announced that the final bid for LA28 organizers has been announced. Following conclusions, we expect to make a decision around October of this year. List of new sports through March. These are due to be ratified at the IOC meeting scheduled to be held in Mumbai this October.
If the proposal is accepted, he could be in the top six of the six participating teams in the ICC men’s and women’s T20 rankings on deadline day. The ICC has yet to finalize the structure of the tournament. We are discussing options with the organizers of LA28. The main reason for the ICC’s recommendation for a six-team event is that the IOC aims to be more cost-effective, outlined as part of its strategic plan entitled Olympic Agenda 2020+5. According to the IOC, the best way to cut costs is to keep squad sizes from blowing up in each discipline and overall quotas. As a result, the overall quota of athletes for the Paris 2024 Games will be 10,500, up from his 11,300 at the previous Olympic Games held in Tokyo in 2021.
As part of its cost-cutting “opportunities” under its Strategic Plan 2020+5, for several marquee events, including LA28, the IOC launched an “event-based program focused on simplifying and reducing venue master plans. We emphasized the progress in the cost and complexity of each sport”.
IOC wants to tighten quota size
Cricket is unique in this respect as the team travels with a team of supporting staff and not only requires a certain number of pitches for the match, but also training pitches for the team to prepare. It has complexity. During the discussion, it is understood that the ICC received guidance from LA28 that both men’s and women’s events should be restricted to one venue.
The ICC had already seen the benefits of such cost-cutting measures last July and she at his 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham in August, where her T20 cricket for women He was one of nineteen disciplines. Initially, the ICC recommended him two venues for this, but the organizers settled on his one venue, Edgbaston, where his 16 matches were played in multiple doubleheads over ten days. rice field.
Cricket, baseball/softball, flag football, lacrosse, breakdance, karate, kickboxing, squash, and motorsports will compete in eight sports and will qualify for the 2028 Olympics. The IOC will consider all proposals before deciding how many can be added to the list of 28 that will be finalized in February 2022. LA28 also informed the ICC that the quality of the proposed event must not be compromised and must be contested by the best. This also contributed to the ICC working group’s idea to limit the proposed event to the top six teams for both men and women.
The ICC was in constant dialogue with both LA28 and the IOC. The ICC delegation also visited the IOC headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland. In December, ICC Executive Director Geoff Allardice met with his LA28 officials in Los Angeles.
BCCI Executive Director Jay Shah has been appointed to the ICC Olympic Working Group chaired by Greg Barclay (ICC Chair). The group also includes Indra Nooyi (Independent Director) and Parag Malate (Former US Cricket President).
The addition of Shah, his BCCI representative on the ICC board and chairman of the Finance and Trade Committee, is a strategic move. The IOC has identified India as a key market given the country’s ambitions to host the Olympic Games in the near future. And he believes the Shah’s involvement will be an important and potentially influential boost in negotiations with the IOC to include cricket in the world’s biggest sporting event.
After all, the Working Group has updated his ICC members with a summary of their discussions with LA28.