T20 Cricket likely to feature at 2028 Summer Olympics Los Angeles - Reports

Cricket is likely to make a return to the Olympics in the 2028 Games, 128 years since its last appearance in the Games.

Cricket is one of the nine shortlisted sports to be which are likely to included in the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles. Baseball, Flag football, break dancing, Karate, Lacrosse, Squash, motorsport and kickboxing are the other eight sports.

According to the Guardian, men's and women's T20 Cricket is likely to be included in the Olympics for 2028. The final decision regarding the inclusion will take place by the end of the year. If everything goes through, the 2028 Games would be the first edition to feature cricket since the 1900 Games in Paris, where a one-off gold medal match was conducted.

England will compete as Great Britain in the Olympics

The current proposal includes a five-team competition for men and women. The teams will qualify based on the ICC World Rankings. If England make the cut, they will participate as Great Britain, similar to the way how West Indies participated as Barbados in the 2022 Commonwealth Games.

In 2022 CWG, Barbados appeared in the cricket competition after winning the regional qualifier in West Indies. The success of Women's cricket in the 2022 Commonwealth Games is one of the reasons for cricket to get shortlisted for the Olympics.

Earlier, due to differences between the Olympics committee and the ICC, Cricket could not find its way in the Olympics, now, the Committee are looking out for financial incentive, thanks to the popularity of cricket.

If cricket makes it to the Olympics, the broadcast rights in India for the Games are likely to increase by a huge percentage. Currently, the Olympic broadcast rights in India is reportedly around 20 Million Dollars. If cricket is included, the broadcast rights are expected to go up to approximately 190 Million dollars.

The next olympics after Paris 2024 is in Los Angeles. This is excellent timing as the USA has recently launched their franchise based T20 tournament, Major League Cricket. The league has gained a reasonable number of followers and is likely to increase in upcoming years.