Four Olympic "new members" led by breakdancing and rock climbing are still waiting for their "debut" in Paris, and five other "new friends" have already received the "stepping stone" of the Los Angeles Olympics. At the IOC's 141st Session in Mumbai earlier this week, proposals were approved for five new sports for Los Angeles 2028, with baseball/softball, cricket, lacrosse, squash and flag football coming to the Games in five years' time.
As the world's highest level and most influential large-scale comprehensive sports event, entering the Olympic family is the only way for many emerging sports to take off. What are the considerations behind the IOC's issuance of "passes" for the five ball categories?
Simple and straightforward
Baseball/softball, cricket, lacrosse, squash and flag football are all ball games, and the victory and defeat are scored by a single game, compared with gymnastics, synchronized swimming and karate and other sports that require referee scoring, simple and direct has become one of their biggest advantages, which also reveals to a certain extent that the IOC hopes to simplify the scoring and victory of Olympic events, so that more new fans can quickly "enter the pit", while avoiding controversy caused by artificial scoring to the greatest extent and making the Olympic Games more pure.
In today's era, speed and efficiency have become the most important aspects of the younger generation in work and life. The IOC also noticed this, so they took the "short, flat and fast" ball game as the focus of the next development. In the "five small balls" that will be introduced at the Los Angeles Olympics, even cricket, which takes a relatively long time in a single game, is scored and scored more easily than gymnastics, synchronized swimming and other skill sports that require repeated confirmation before giving points. At the just-concluded Hangzhou Asian Games, many domestic audiences chose to "talk about a quick love" with cricket, which has a great relationship with this characteristic. As many netizens said after learning that the "five small balls" entered the Olympic Games: "These ball games that can be scored or not can be more attractive to the audience in a short period of time as long as they go to the scene for 10 minutes, so as to develop in the future." ”
Caption: "Five Little Balls" has a lot of audiences Photo by Xinmin Evening News reporter Li Mingjun
Home field advantage
In the world of competitive sports, playing at home always gives some advantages, although some people think that this seems to be contrary to the principle of fair play, but over the years, it has become a part of competitive sports, after all, everyone has a time to work, this "five small goals" into the Olympic Games, IOC President Bach did not shy away from saying: "These five new sports are in line with American sports culture." ”
In Los Angeles, the venue of the 2028 Olympic Games, USA, with the world-renowned baseball and football clubs Dodgers and Rams, plus the long-term popularity of these two sports in the United States, the International Olympic Committee added baseball and softball and flag football to the project sequence, which can be regarded as a "meeting gift" for future Olympic hosts, and also tells those cities that are interested in hosting this sports feast in the future: "The dividends that the Olympic Games can bring are not only the number of medals and the crowd of spectators. The development of new sports and the influence of cities will also be greatly enhanced. In this way, the Olympic Games in transition do not have to worry about no one to host, and the host country may also take advantage of the east wind of the Olympic Games to "gain fame and fortune", forming a win-win situation. It has to be said that the IOC's wishful thinking is loud and clever.
Caption: Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games
Increase revenue
In 1984, when the Olympics were last in Los Angeles, television rights distribution and advertising revenue between games gave many people a glimpse of the sporting event's ability to "suck money." Forty-four years later, the IOC expects to generate even more broadcast revenue through the addition of five ball games.
The Mumbai session coincided with the hosting of the new Men's Cricket World Cup. Although cricket is still a niche sport in the world, in more than a dozen countries and regions including India, Pakistan and New Zealand, the tournament has generated more than $100 million in revenue, forming a huge market of nearly 2.5 billion people. Such data has given many cricket organizations, including the International Olympic Committee, new ideas.
Similar to cricket, squash has considerable potential in Egypt and Southeast Asia; Baseball is the most talked about sport in Japan, South Korea and Taiwan; Rugby has long been popular in the Commonwealth, with more than 1,000 tournaments held every year... The IOC looks forward to further enhancing its influence and attracting more broadcasters and advertisers by incorporating relevant projects into the Olympic Games, so as to obtain more revenue, expand the Olympic cake and lay a good foundation for subsequent development.
Caption: Bach in plenary Xinhua photo
"The addition of these five new events will bring the Olympic Movement to a new connection with athletes and fans around the world, and will help us explore new development paths." Bach's words after the plenary session said the core behind the new sports absorbed by the Olympics. From the current situation, the "five small balls" will not become the end point of the Olympic Games to absorb new sports, and in the future, there will be more projects with potential into the Olympic family. This once competitive sports event will gradually transform into a big party in the name of sports, with more entertainment and communication core, so that more participants can get a piece of the pie. (Xinmin Evening News reporter Lu Weixin)