Did the IPL play a role in cricket's return to the Olympics?

The cricket matches during the Olympic Games in 2028 could be played in stadiums being built by Kolkata Knight Riders.

The word is officially out there: cricket will be making a dramatic return to the Olympics in 2028 - more than 120 years after its first and only appearance at the Games so far. With the International Olympic Committee (IOC) rubber stamping the suggestion made by the LA Local Organising Committee (LALOG) on Monday, the roots of the decision can actually be traced back to the success of the Indian Premier League (IPL).

The IPL wasn’t even a 10-year old competition when Los Angeles was awarded the rights for the 2028 Olympics. However, the kind of money that it brought to the sport by marrying cricket with entertainment and providing a great product for fans to cherish became the reference point for the Games’ organising committee. For decades, cricket had been a sport that was too long, too boring, and too unprofessional for countries outside the Commonwealth. The IPL had managed to change that perception in a really short period of time.

“We want to recreate that environment [referring to the IPL matchday mania],” said Casey Wasserman, the head of the Los Angeles Olympics Organising Committee.

His speech arrived moments after the IOC had approved cricket’s return to the Olympics in an executive meeting in Mumbai on Monday. The last time that it had featured in this competition was during the 1900 Summer Olympics in Paris. The only match of the tournament was played between Great Britain and France, with the former claiming a 158-run victory and clinching the gold medal.

It was a two-day game played over the course of four innings.

After a particularly long exile from the global stage, cricket’s journey back to the Games can actually be directly correlated with the rise and success of the IPL, and of the larger appeal of the T20 format. The T20 format has been adopted by countries across the world, including the US as well as many of the European nations, something the sport was previously unable to achieve with the longer 50-over format and Test cricket.

The IOC has also relied on advice from Nita Ambani, the co-owner of Mumbai Indians, who had batted for the sports’ inclusion. Moreover, several of the cricket games in LA28 could be held at a stadium being built by two-time IPL champions Kolkata Knight Riders, who also have a franchise in Los Angeles, representing them in Major League Cricket (MLC).

Wasserman had experienced the magic and charm of the IPL firsthand in 2010 and he didn’t take much convincing.

“To have that expertise, that understanding, how to operate a tournament at that level, how to attract the greatest players in the world, how to make it the most exciting environment…” the American sports executive gushed on the sidelines of the IOC Session in Mumbai. “I will never forget my first IPL match. It was electric.”

Therefore, when Los Angeles was awarded the Games in 2028, cricket was one of the first sports included in their shortlist of 14 that could be added to the programme on the basis of recommendation.

Even as the list was shortened down to nine, cricket not just remained but continued to feature prominently in their plans.

“As we went through the processes, it became quite obvious we’d be making a mistake if we didn’t include it,” Wasserman further added.

“The engagement has been deep and long. The ICC has been great in that process. And obviously, we are going to learn a lot from the ICC but frankly from the cricket community in India and the IPL,” he said.