Will Cricket make it to the 2028 Olympics?
The International Cricket Council (ICC) have taken action to attempt to reset the governance structure at USA Cricket (USAC). This news comes because USAC must secure national governing body (NGB) status from the US Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC), this is mandatory for every sport that is being added to the Olympics.
In 2023, cricket was one of five new sports to be introduced in the 2028 Olympics, set to be held in Los Angeles, this was because of large audience that the sport generates, especially in the Indian sub-continent. As the USA are hosting the next Olympics, they will be one of six nations to compete for medals in both the men’s and women’s categories.
However, the USAC were warned last year that they would face serious action, predominately the risk of being derecognised as the governing body for cricket in the US. The ICC have now laid out a six-step roadmap on July 10th that the USAC must follow, giving them a last chance to make amends. The conflict comes because the current USAC board do not want to resign and step one of the ICC’s roadmap is to replace the current USAC directors with three new ones, instead USAC want to “see if there is another viable option”.
On July 19th the ICC have given USAC a reprieve by allowing them three months to sort out the issue, so they can “reserve the right to take such actions as it deems appropriate”. The extension to fix their problems comes after USAC had addressed five out of eight issues, to their credit. The standout issue that USA Cricket must address is their NGB status, without this, cricket’s return to the Games after 128 years might be in doubt.
As LPC continues to grow the sport of cricket in the states, we hope that the sport is able to progress forward and display the excellence of cricket in the 2028 Olympics, alongside watching the US Cricket team compete too.
