ICC chief executive officer Geoff Allardice said that while the perception outside is that the organisation and its member nation’s underlying motive is financial, the game’s top administrators are eyeing global upliftment of the sport through inclusion in the summer games.
The ICC and its major full-member countries have had a change of heart when it comes to cricket’s inclusion in the Olympics. Historically, countries like India, Australia and England have been averse to inclusion in the quadrennial event as they feared it would overlap with their bilateral arrangements.
But things have changed on that front in recent times, with the ICC, at the behest of its prominent full-member nations, setting up a committee to gauge the viability and benefits of inclusion and making an official bid for consideration to the International Olympics Committee.
Allardice said they are aiming to raise cricket’s profile outside its traditional boundaries and help the lower-ranked Test sides and associates get assistance from their respective governments to better facilitate the sport.
Inclusion in the Olympics is expected to bring unprecedented funding for associate nations outside the ICC pool rights money, including from their government and even the IOC. A further benefit would be the fast-tracking of cricket development in lucrative markets such as the USA, China, Brazil, and Japan, among others.
“In many of our members, being seen as an Olympic sport and having an association with the government and the national Olympic movement is something that is going to be really beneficial in terms of facilities and high-performance assistance,”
“It’s certainly not a money-making exercise from our point of view, it’s about getting exposure for cricket in markets where we may not be popular. And the other one is about giving all of our 106 members the opportunity to engage more closely with their governments.”
Allardice said while present on the ‘SEN’ Radio Show.
ICC’s well-established wish is for reinclusion as early as the 2028 Los Angeles games, to solidify which, the governing body has given co-hosting rights to USA for the 2024 edition of the T20 World Cup. The following Olympics event is in Brisbane in 2032, and by then, the ICC aspires for cricket to become a regular feature at the mega event.
