Zac Electrifly

For the Olympic Games in Paris in 2024, Breaking (Break dancing), Sport Climbing (rock wall climbing), Skateboarding and Surfing will be added. Three on Three basketball is returning after being introduced in Tokyo 2020 (2021) Olympics. Cycling BMX Freestyle is returning. That is another sport that was introduced in Tokyo 2020 (2021) Olympics. Breaking is being introduced to the Olympics for the first time in 2024. I think it is an odd choice but I do not know how popular it is in France. Skateboarding is returning. I am excited for that. Sport Climbing is returning. Honestly I forgot that was in the last Olympics. That is not a good sign for their sport. Surfing is returning. Surfing is one sport that I really enjoy casually watching. Skateboarding, Sport Climbing, and Surfing are all sports that got introduced for the Tokyo 2020 (2021) Olympics. Overall for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games there 10,500 athletes competing in 329 events across 32 sports.

The Paris 2024 Olympic are also interesting as it has only been three years since the last Summer Olympics. With the Tokyo 2020 Olympic games pushed back to 2021, it will have only been three years since the last Summer Olympics. This may be the first time in the Modern Olympic history that has happened.

The New Olympic Sports for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games will be Baseball, Softball, Flag Football, Lacrosse, and Squash. Baseball and Softball will be returning. I am sure Angeles and Dodgers stadiums will host those events respectively. Since venues are being considered in San Diego and the Bay Area as well why not Oracle Park and Petco Park for baseball and softball games. Whatever they do they should not use the Oakland Coliseum. Id rather see other stadiums converted to hold baseball than that, California has four other Major League Stadiums as well as eight California League stadiums and a triple-a baseball stadium, I am glad to see the return of these sports and I do think they should be staple sports at the olympics but I understand why they are not. I think it is largely because baseball is not a global sport. Baseball stadiums are also difficult to construct compared to other stadiums. The International Olympic Committee and the World Baseball Softball Confederation may also not see it as beneficial to build stadiums for baseball and softball in countries where the sport is not popular. The Rio 2016 games come to mind when thinking of this as they were abandoned almost as soon as the events finished. Another iconic thing from the Olympics is the abounded baseball field in Greece. It is not a good look for those sports nor is it a finically responsible choice.

I think baseball and softball should expand from their six team tournaments of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. With 198 national baseball teams and four Major League Baseball Stadiums in California they could easily do a sixteen team tournament.

Flag Football was also announced to be added to the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games. American Football was originally a demonstration sport in 1904 and 1932. The National Football League has been using the International Federation of American Football to push for American Football in the Olympics. When LA was awarded the Olympic games, one of the first things I heard was that the organizers along with the NFL were pushing to get football in the Olympics. It is a good move by the NFL. Flag Football in the Olympics has a huge global marketing potential for the NFL. I think they went with Flag Football instead of full contact because it is safer and easier for people to start teams. It’s almost as easy to play flag football as it is to play soccer. All you need is a ball and some flags. I am excited for this. I am glad Flag Football is starting to get more recognition and be taken more seriously. I played flag football in high school and was disappointed that there was not a professional league. Doing some recent research, There are thousands of leagues and teams across North America and the world. It is honestly surprising that the sport does not have a league or united structure on the scale of the NFL, Arena Football, the XFL, the USFL or NCAA Football. Flag Football has been around since world war two. With it’s introduction into the Olympics and the current growth potential with millions of players, I think it could be on the same scale as the XFL, USFL, or Arena football in the next ten years.

Due to having only seventy four members, I think Flag Football at the olympics will be structured a lot like Ice Hockey. The top eight to sixteen ranked teams will get in. Then they will have a tournament. Of course I think the United States will dominate Flag Football at the Olympics similarly to how they dominate basketball. Especially if NCAA or NFL players get involved. The United States did dominate the flag Football tournament at the 2022 World Games without any current NFL players. It is very likely that a lot of North American football players that do not make the USA team will try and get onto other national teams like we see in other sports. It will be interesting to see the global reception and reaction to this.

Lacrosse was also announced to be added to be in the Lost Angeles 2028 Olympics. There are several versions of Lacrosse including my favorite stickball. Field Lacrosse and box Lacrosse will not be played at the Olympics. A newer version called sixes will be at the Olympics. Sixes is like if box Lacrosse and field Lacrosse had a baby. Field Lacrosse was in the 1904 Olympics and the 1908 Olympics. It was a demonstration sport in the 1928 Olympics, 1932 Olympics and the 1948 Olympics. Lacrosse is going to be the closest thing to ice hockey at the LA 2028 Olympics. Field hockey doesn’t count.

Lacrosse will probably have an eight team tournament. It will probably carry out like an International Ice Hockey Federation tournament. Teams will probably qualify through overall rankings like in the IIHF. There are plenty of venues that can host Lacrosse in California. With most of the National Football League and Major League soccer venues going to other events I think Lacrosse will be relegated to a NCAA stadium. The stadium I would most like to see host would probably Stanford Stadium. I juts think it looks the best out of the potential NCAA stadiums that are not being used for other events. California Memorial Stadium would be the largest capacity NCAA stadium not being used for other events. That does not include all of the fields used for NCAA or Pro Lacrosse in California.

What is interesting about Lacrosse is that World Lacrosse recognizes Native American tribes as teams. No other sport allows Native American tribes to compete at the international level. The Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) are the only tribe to currently have a World Lacrosse team. With a successful LA 2028 Olympic tournament and continued growth of the game, I am sure more Native American tribes will become members of World Lacrosse.

I was excited when I heard Lacrosse was going to be in the Olympics. I have played mini Lacrosse in the past. I have played Stickball before. I went to a Chickasaw Nation gathering in Southern California when I was a kid. I was able to play a modified version of stickball there. It was a lot of fun. I am a member of the Chickasaw Nation. It is exciting to me to see Native American representation in the Olympics through Lacrosse. I would also love to see my tribe join World Lacrosse. With around 73,000 citizens the Chickasaw Nation it would be possible to put together a twelve man Lacrosse team to compete in World Lacrosse.

Squash was the last sport to be announced that is being added to the Los Angeles Olympics in 2028. Squash is another racket sport. I know very little about racket sports. I know almost nothing about Squash. This is an odd choice to me considering how many other popular sports are not in the Olympics. Overall I will probably learn more about the sport but it is not a sport that I will be following closely even during the Olympics. Squash has not been in the Olympics before.

One of the things I have been following very closely is Archery at the Olympics. Unfortunately Archery will not be adding events in 2024. There is currently five archery events. There is Men’s and Women’s Individuals, Men’s and Women’s teams, and Mixed teams. All archers use the Olympic recurve bow. Olympic Recurve bows are the only bows used in the Olympics. There are several other types of bows and classes. I know some people were upset that archery was not being expanded at what is essentially the highest level of competition in the sport. What that comes down to is the World Archery Federation not pushing to expand the sport in the Olympics beyond what it is. They could probably add five to ten more events without the International Olympic Committee objecting because it would all be on the same field. There are forty eight Athletics events I think it is time for Archery at the Olympics to expand. I will give them credit for going from four to five events but there is still a lot that is missing.

One of the sports I have always wanted to see in the Olympics has been inline hockey. I think the NHL should push to put inline hockey in the summer olympics because it would help grow the global game. Along side that I think that ball hockey should also be in the Olympics. Again to help with the global growth of the game. I also think that air hockey could be added, bandy or rink bandy could be added to the Winter Olympics, floorball should be added to the Summer Olympics, ringette should be added, broomball, and table or bubble hockey could be added. Ice hockey, inline hockey, broomball, and ball hockey should all have five on five, three on three and pond hockey competitions.

Overall there are thousands of sports and not every sport can be in the Olympics. To that I say why not? If enough international teams play the sport with a large enough fan base, why not? There could be the current standard Olympics with every sport outside of that being able to be a demonstration sport. Demonstration sports could just take place in the same year in the same region without it having to be during the Olympics. As long as the governing bodies for whatever sport are willing to set up the event why not do it in partnership. Whichever sports governing body would pay to have the event like any other event they have it would just be in the same region and year as the Olympics, then they would get the branding and broadcasting of the Olympics. That could create more revenue for the Olympics. They could charge a licensing fee and take a part of the revenue in exchange for being an Olympic demonstration sport, using the Olympic branding and broadcasting. I think it would also generate more interest in the Olympics as more fan bases join in.