On Monday, Oct. 16, the International Olympic Committee agreed to add flag football, baseball, softball, lacrosse, squash and cricket to the 2028 Los Angeles Summer Olympics. With more sports being added, it will only bring in a bigger audience for fans to see their favorite players in the Olympics. Over the past decade, we have seen the USA men’s basketball team dominate, and it is time to witness something special with the new men’s baseball team and flag football team in 2028.
This will be the first time that there is a flag football team in the Olympics, which is going to raise questions like, “Are NFL players going to play flag football?” As of right now, we do not know yet. However, the NFL is conversing with the International Federation of American Football and the USA Football Organization about letting NFL players represent the United States in the 2028 Summer Olympics. The good thing about flag football is that it is a unisex sport, so anyone can play it, and a team with both male and female athletes would be really exciting. Imagine a flag football team with Tyreek Hill, Ja’Marr Chase and Josh Allen; it would overpower the rest of the world. On top of that, this past season, the NFL switched from tackle football to no-contact flag football for the Pro Bowl, so it should not be hard getting the best offensive and defensive players to commit to the Olympics.
When it comes to baseball, it has had a complicated relationship with the Olympics over the past decade or so. It has constantly been in and out of the games for a while, but hopefully the International Baseball Federation and the Olympics can make an agreement to keep baseball in the games beyond 2028. The closest the sport of baseball has been to the Olympics is the World Baseball Classic. The most recent tournament was nothing short of electric, with Team USA facing off against Team Japan in the finals and Japan coming out on top. The final match-up with Mike Trout at bat and his teammate Shohei Ohtani on the mound was one of the most iconic matchups in baseball history. Just imagine if that tournament was to win a gold medal; the competition would have been insane.
With flag football and baseball added to the 2028 Summer Olympics, it is going to be fun to imagine what the USA men’s and women’s teams will look like. It is going to take a while for players in the NFL and MLB to fully commit to the Olympics. Until then, we are going to have to wait and see if the two leagues can reach an agreement with their player’s associations in order for their players to compete in Los Angeles for one the grandest awards in all of sports: an Olympic gold medal.
