Cricket is coming back as an Olympic event in 2028.
Cricket is being revived as an Olympics event during the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics. Cricket was last played as an Olympics event in 1900 when Paris hosted the games. But will the Cricket event take place in Los Angeles or will the IOC put the tournament in Nassau County, New York at a public park? It was reported that members of the LA28 host committee and the International Olympic Committee checked out Cricket’s T20 World tourney played in a modular stadium and were impressed with the layout. There is some Cricket interest in the New York metropolitan region. But not everyone was impressed with the Eisenhower Park temporary venue.
The International Cricket Council put out a statement that would not bode well for the IOC. “T20 Inc and the ICC recognize that the pitches used so far at the Nassau County International Cricket Stadium have not played as consistently as we would have all wanted.” The Los Angeles event is four years away and playing surfaces can be improved. Eisenhower Park was not the first choice for the T20 World Cup. Van Cortland Park in the Bronx was selected for the event but local residents did not want the modular stadium taking up park space. In June 2023, New York City officials embraced a proposal to bring the T20 World Cup to the Bronx but by September that plan was derailed and Nassau County stepped in. Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman said the Cricket tournament was “the Super Bowl on steroids” although that is clearly a bunch of hyperbole. The championship contest between India and Pakistan drew 34,000 customers and that is why the Los Angeles host committee and the IOC want Cricket in the Olympics. India and Pakistan will draw eyeballs to whatever video platforms are used for the LA Games and that means money.
Evan Weiner’s books are available at iTunes – https://books.apple.com/us/author/evan-weiner/id595575191
Evan can be reached at evan_weiner@hotmail.com
