Cricket at the Olympics: Concerns raised over cricket’s inclusion for LA 2028

New Zealand captain Sophie Devine celebrates winning the bronze medal match at the 2022 Commonwealth Games. Photo / Photosport

The head of the New Zealand Cricket Players’ Association has raised concerns over cricket’s inclusion in the next Olympics saying “not a cent will go to cricket’s national bodies or players”.

Heath Mills, the chief executive of the association as well as the chairman of the World Cricketers’ Association, says the athletes remain the biggest financial losers from the Olympics, in a piece for Dylan Cleaver’s The Bounce Substack.

“As it’s climbed to the multibillion-dollar event we see today, many people have made a lot of money including broadcasters, commercial sponsors, event service providers, property developers, construction firms, catering companies and betting agencies, but not the athletes. The very people we tune in to watch don’t earn a cent from the IOC for generating the financial windfall that is the Games.

“Yes, some have personal sponsorships, but that number is declining. Some will parlay Olympic success into lucrative post-playing careers in the media or business, but that number is far fewer than you would expect.

“Some receive taxpayer funding via government sports agencies, but it barely pays the bills. The average athlete in New Zealand currently receives about $30,000 per year from the Government, which if they manage to climb the mountain to success may move up to $60,000 for gold medal winners, though I believe this is increasing slightly in the next four-year period.

“But the IOC doesn’t pay - the taxpayer does and this is remarkable.”

The Paris Olympics will be a huge money-earner for the IOC with little money going to the athletes. Photo / Getty Images

Which brings the question of cricket’s inclusion in the 2028 Olympics - a sport with no shortage of money thanks to the massive TV audiences in India and Pakistan which the IOC is trying to tap into.

The IOC approved cricket’s inclusion for LA2028 last year, along with squash, baseball/softball, flag football and lacrosse (sixes). The proposal by ICC is a six-team Twenty20 tournament for both a men’s and women’s competition. The 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham saw the debut of women’s T20 cricket, with an eight-team tournament.

Mills says cricket will be a huge money-earner for the IOC with nothing going back to the players.

“Cricket’s inclusion will generate hundreds of millions of dollars in additional broadcast and commercial revenue for the IOC, largely due to India - which, despite being the most populous country in the world, has remained a largely untapped Olympic power - and its obsession with the sport. We know that the IOC will keep all this extra revenue for themselves and not a cent will go to cricket’s national bodies or players.

“We’re told by some cricket administrators, however, that the sport’s inclusion will grow the game. Really? I’m not convinced about that, because it clearly has not been the case for other sports. The only thing we can be certain of is that there will be good photo opportunities for some and nice all-expenses trips away.”

Mills is also concerned that taxpayers will be asked to fund Olympic cricket campaigns, when national cricket boards are well within their means to pay for it themselves.

“We’re also told governments around the world will now pay money to national cricket organisations because it’s an Olympic sport. That is apparently a wonderful thing, but it’s also where they lose me. How is it right for a multibillion-dollar per year sport to rejoice in the taxpayers of the world funding its administration? This line of thinking is beyond me.

“There are many sports that are not commercial for a wide variety of reasons and it’s appropriate that a government would help fund them to ensure our next generation have something to aspire to and engage in, especially if it promotes healthy and active lifestyles. But it can’t be right that taxpayers are funding multibillion-dollar commercial sports to compete at the Olympics, particularly when the IOC is raking in the revenue from their inclusion in the games and not paying.”