Flag football?!
The process of adding and removing Olympic sports is an ever-changing process based on popularity, historical merit, and the whims of a host nation. The Los Angeles Olympic Committee has released its full list of sports for the 2028 games, with some newer sports being kept — and others to be lost to time.
A total of six new sports are being added to the slate, which include:
Baseball
Softball
Flag Football
Lacrosse
Squash
Cricket
It’s a very North American-centric slate for the 2028 games, which was somewhat expected — but it’s still wild to see Flag Football included as an Olympic sport. It aligns with the NFL’s desire to make our brand a football more global, but it’s wild to imagine anyone outside of the USA, Canada and perhaps a very small handful of countries having a pool to find a quarterback from.
It also raises questions about where players will be pulled from. As it stands NFL players would be allowed to compete under IOC rules, however it’s unclear at this time whether teams would allow their athletes to compete considering clauses in their contracts — though the league has a vested interest in popularizing the game, so there could be pressure to allow players in.
Who doesn’t want to see Russia get dusted by 400 points against Patrick Mahomes and Justin Jefferson?
Karate, which was introduced in the Tokyo 2020 games is being left out once more, with breaking (competitive breakdancing) being dropped after the 2024 Paris games. The biggest global addition to this list is cricket, which remains the second most popular sport in the world because of its appeal in India. This is a natural fit for the Olympic games, and with numerous countries being able to field competitive teams it could be a really fun addition to the Olympic slate, and a way to get more people in North America curious about the sport.
One sport we’re thrilled to see remain on the schedule is skateboarding. This was introduced in Tokyo, and seems to now be a staple of the games as 2028 will mark its third inclusion.
