Cricket in LA Olympics? The International Cricket Council’s (ICC) fresh pitch for the inclusion of the sport in the Los Angeles Olympic Games in 2028 has found resonance among India‘s booming cricket market. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) and LA28 Organising Committee are receiving regular submissions from the apex cricketing body.
In their most recent letter, ICC have urged the IOC to consider the financial benefits of the cricket-obsessed Indian market.
“IOC’s media rights income from India would go up to $130 million on a lower end of the scale and touch as much as $260 million if cricket was played at the games, the ICC has argued,” a source familiar with ICC’s pitch was quoted as saying by Hindustan Times.
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Cricket at LA Olympics 2028?
The current media rights agreement between the IOC and Jio-backed Viacom 18 for the Indian market is said to be around $31 million.
ICC have based their calculations on the recent enthusiastic reaction from Indian broadcasters to the media rights for both the Indian Premier League (IPL) and ICC events.
The IPL media rights increased by about 300% (to 48390 crores from 16347 crores for five years) in 2022, and the ICC rights in India increased by 400% (to $3 billion for four years from roughly $1.5 billion for eight years), marking a turning point in the sport’s valuation.
The ICC has constantly promoted its Olympic bid by using India’s population advantage and its passion for cricket. It is well known that among the deciding factors in Olympics are a sport’s appeal to young people and its online presence.
Until last year, it was assumed that cricket would miss the bus for the LA 28 Olympics and that Brisbane Olympics 2032 appeared to be a likely scenario.
However, as the Indian cricket board began to support the notion, Jay Shah, the secretary of the BCCI, was included in the ICC’s Olympic working group. Former Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, who oversaw the city’s successful application and is currently the American ambassador to India, was spotted watching an IPL game with Shah this week in Ahmedabad.
Later, in Mumbai, Garcetti stated that cricket was something the US was eager to include in LA28.
T20 Format in LA 2028!
The IOC wants to limit the total number of participants to 10,500, thus the ICC has reduced the number of participating teams in their plan to six for men and women, with a three-hour T20 format.
The IOC will make a final decision during its session in Mumbai in the middle of October, but the LA OC is anticipated to submit its recommendations to the IOC about a month beforehand.
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