The International Cricket Council (ICC) has proposed six-team T20 competitions for men and women to the Los Angeles Olympic Games organising committee (LA28) as part of its ongoing efforts to include cricket in the world's greatest sporting events.
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The International Cricket Council (ICC) has proposed six-team T20 competitions for men and women to the Los Angeles Olympic Games organising committee (LA28) as part of its ongoing efforts to include cricket in the world’s greatest sporting events. Though there have been reports that cricket will not be included in the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, according to a new ESPNcricinf report, no decision has been made and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) will make a final decision around October this year after the LA28 organisers finalise the list of new sports by March. The IOC session in Mumbai, set for October of this year, will then validate these.
If the concept is approved, the six teams will almost certainly be the top six in the ICC’s men’s and women’s T20 rankings on any given day. The ICC has not yet finalised a tournament structure; it is still discussing options with the LA28 organisers. T20 was proposed as the format because both LA28 and the IOC told the ICC that the format should have a worldwide championship (which rules out T10), a short length (which rules out ODIs), and a high fan appeal.
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The fundamental reason for the ICC’s recommendation of six-team events is the IOC’s goal of being more cost-efficient, as expressed in its strategic plan titled “Olympic Agenda 2020+5”. The International Olympic Committee has determined that the best way to cut costs is to avoid inflated team sizes across disciplines as well as total contingents. As a result, the total athlete allotment for the 2024 Paris Games will be 10,500, down from 11,300 in Tokyo in 2021. LA28 also informed the ICC that the quality of the planned event must not be jeopardised. This, too, influenced the decision to restrict the proposed event to the top six men’s and women’s teams.
Baseball/softball, flag football, lacrosse, break dancing, karate, kickboxing, squash, and motorsport are the other sports competing for a berth in the 2028 Olympics. The IOC will review all applications before choosing how many will be added to the previous list of 28 in February 2022. Cricket has its own set of cost-cutting problems, with squads travelling with teams of support staff and requiring a specific number of game fields as well as training grounds for teams to practise on. During the discussions, LA28 advised the ICC that both the men’s and women’s competitions would need to be held at a single venue.
