CRICKET TO BE PLAYED AT LOS ANGELES OLYMPICS IN 2028

While flag football will feel familiar to the home fans, cricket will be a steep learning curve. It is almost a complete mystery in the United States. Bringing a sport with no roots in America onto the program could be viewed as a sweetener for places where it is popular...

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First, Taylor Swift. Next, the Olympics. The NFL's ongoing push for worldwide exposure got another boost Monday when organizers for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics delivered a proposal to put flag football on the program when the Summer Games return to the United States for the first time in 32 years.

The International Olympic Committee will vote on the proposal at meetings in Mumbai, India, that begin later this week. Also on the LA proposal were baseball and softball, which have been bouncing on and off the program for decades; lacrosse; squash; and cricket — a fitting contrast to flag football in that it is virtually unknown in the United States but immensely popular over wide swaths of the globe.

LA chairman Casey Wasserman said the new sports are “relevant, innovative and community-based, played in backyards, schoolyards, community centers, stadiums and parks across the U.S. and the globe.”