Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Bid Appears Shaky, FTP Discussions And Pivotal Associate Election

An update on cricket’s tenuous Los Angeles 2028 bid, which has hit a pivotal juncture, is expected during next month’s International Cricket Council’s Annual General Meeting in Birmingham, as a crucial Associate Member Directors election looms in the backdrop.

In the first in-person AGM since the Covid-19 pandemic, the get together of the sport’s power brokers will be held concurrently with cricket’s return to the Commonwealth Games through the women’s T20 format.

The sport’s governing body, however, is eyeing a much more significant comeback for cricket in the Olympics and its working group is expected to update the board during the week of meetings at the AGM.

It comes during a crucial stage in the Los Angeles Games bidding process, where those sports and disciplines deemed serious contenders are required soon to officially present their cases to the Games organizers

In preparation for this, according to sources, the ICC – which has had a $3 million budget for the bid and tasked communications firm Burson Cohn & Wolfe with establishing a strong PR campaign – has been working on the sport’s narrative themed around its stranglehold of the lucrative South Asian populace.

But there remains skepticism over the likelihood of cricket’s chances amid fierce competition, including from baseball-softball, karate and lacrosse. The Wall Street Journal last month wrote that “it’s widely expected that cricket’s time will come in 2032 at the Olympics in Brisbane, and that this proposal would be more of a trial run”.

Somewhat backing up the sentiment, a source close to the ICC’s bid told me that the Games officials “don’t seem to have much appetite for cricket. There isn’t much traction”.

But the source and others close to the scene are adamant confidence remains and believe that the Olympic chiefs will eventually be swayed by cricket’s status as arguably the second biggest sport in the world.

Last month, ICC chief executive Geoff Allardice visited the U.S. and met with key Los Angeles Games stakeholders and officials to shore up cricket’s candidacy. There has been more urgency in the bid after it got off to a slow start when the five-person working group – originally set up in late 2020 and tweaked several times – didn’t officially start duties until well into 2021.

Associate Member Directors Election

As I reported last week, the Associate election could tilt the power balance on the board and have major ramifications on the chair election later in the year, which India boss Jay Shah is eyeing, according to sources.

As I first reported, the three incumbents, Associate chair and ICC deputy chairman Imran Khwaja, Mahinda Vallipuram and Neil Speight, will recontest, while Pankaj Khimji (Oman), Mubashshir Usmani (UAEUAE
) and Mark Stafford (Vanuatu) will run.

Betty Timmer (Netherlands), who unsuccessfully ran for the Chief Executives’ Committee last year, rounds out the field of seven, according to sources.

It’s expected to be a tight race with India’s support deemed crucial and obvious links are with Oman and UAE who jointly hosted last year’s T20 World Cup in place of then Covid-19 ravaged India.

Veteran Khwaja and Vallipuram, who is rising in prominence as a key administrator alongside Shah in the rebranded Asian Cricket Council and he also sits on the ICC’s Olympics working group, are tipped as the frontrunners.

Which could make incumbent Speight, a veteran who previously sat on the CEC, vulnerable as a battle looms for the final coveted spot between the well-heeled and polished Khimji and Usmani, who is making a splash with UAE’s wealthy new T20 league.

Future Tours Programme

There has been a lot of horse trading and jockeying between Full Members over bilateral series for the next FTP for 2024-31, which might be unveiled at the AGM or soon after.

To no one’s surprise, the power nations of India, England and Australia will be playing one another a lot but there is intrigue over whether the so-called ‘Big Three’ will entertain smaller nations, including beyond the 12 Test playing countries.

Shah told Reuters that India wanted to “design a comprehensive calendar where we aim to help Associate nations with consistent and regular bilateral tours”.

But several commonly shunned nations are struggling for attention. Zimbabwe, who haven’t played India, Australia or England in Tests since 2005 are bracing to once again be left without many high-profile fixtures.

“The bigger countries don’t want to host us in Tests. Australia refused to have us for a one-off Test this year,” Zimbabwe chair Tavengwa Mukuhlani told me, referring to Zimbabwe’s request to add a Test to three ODIs on its brief tour to Australia in August-September.

“The FTP is shaped around the bigger nations and the rest trickles down from there.”

There are fears of a major squeeze on cricket’s calendar with Shah insisting on the mega rich Indian Premier League stretching to a 10-week tournament. He is also committed to the Asian Cricket Council’s plans for an annual Asia Cup in August-September, where of course India are the headline act.

A resurrection of the Afro-Asia Cup – pitting an Asian XI versus an African XI and which is expected to be ratified during the AGM – could further cram an already wheezing cricket calendar.

New Associate Members

As I reported last month, Ukraine are almost certainly likely to gain coveted ICC membership during the AGM, which is set to save cricket in the war-torn country. Cambodia, according to sources, are also deemed likely to attain Associate membership, which yields funding and an uptick in status.

Other hopefuls are set to include Vietnam, Ivory Coast, Mauritius and Uzbekistan. Vietnam were unsuccessful last year due to perceived confusion over who was officially running cricket there.

But that has seemingly been sorted with the formation of the Vietnam Cricket Federation, confirmed by the Vietnam Olympic Committee but not officially in a small technicality mired in the country’s well-worn red tape.

Its chief executive-elect Jeremy Stein said every ICC requirement had been met as the country’s cricket future hinges on the verdict. “It’s hard to approach big sponsors without membership,” he told me. “We’ve had phenomenal growth in developing cricket and hope the fruits of the labor will pay off. ICC membership is essential for that.”

Those dreams will be on the line in Birmingham during a week where much is at stake.