LOS ANGELES — Now that baseball has been approved as one of several “new” sports for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, fans in Southern California might have a question or two.
Will Mookie Betts go for the gold? What about Shohei Ohtani?
And will the Summer Games commandeer Dodger Stadium for two weeks in the middle of the Major League Baseball season?
“We’ve had great conversations with MLB and the players union,” said Casey Wasserman, chairman of the LA28 organizing committee. “I have no doubt that both the league and its players are excited about the opportunity to compete.”
The International Olympic Committee voted to adopt LA28’s additional sports proposal during a session in Mumbai early Monday morning. The approved list also includes flag football, cricket, softball, lacrosse and squash.
As a perk for staging the Games, each host city is allowed to make several, one-time-only additions to the initial program of 28 sports such as gymnastics, basketball and track. Only if the newcomers do especially well will they be considered for a permanent spot.
Baseball, which has drifted in and out of the Olympics several times in recent history, would benefit from major-leaguers participating in 2028. Wasserman said: “We are excited to embark on game-changing collaborations” with professional leagues for all the new sports.
BUT GETTING pros into the Olympics is not so simple.
The NHL’s on-again, off-again relationship with the Winter Games has been marked by tense negotiations over interrupting the regular season and providing insurance against injury to million-dollar athletes.
For its part, MLB might not be eager to take a two-week hiatus in late July and early August. Commissioner Rob Manfred remained vague about Monday’s news, stating that it “is an important development for the ongoing global growth of our sport.”
The addition of any new sport can be tricky business, a tug-of-war among various stakeholders with different needs and agendas.
The local organizing committee wants to add events that will sell tickets and merchandise to fans in their host city. IOC officials prefer sports that will help expand their fanbase in places such as Asia, Africa and South America.
LA28 organizers and the IOC negotiated for months before Monday’s vote. Though Wasserman said “it was our process to manage,” the inclusion of cricket — with 2.5 billion fans worldwide but not so many in the U.S. — seems like an example of the compromises that can result from such talks. It helped that Major League Cricket has stated its desire to build a venue in Irvine, which would save organizers money.
The international federations for each candidate sport represent yet another facet of the process. Mindful of the millions to be generated from an Olympic appearance, they mount very public campaigns for inclusion.
Flag football got a big nudge from the NFL, which went so far as promoting the sport in a television commercial during last season’s Super Bowl.
