Cricket set to return to Olympics in 2028, as Queensland prepare to capitalise for Brisbane 2032 Games

After more than 120 years in Olympic exile, cricket will return to the Games at Los Angeles in 2028. And Queensland is already planning to capitalise for the 2032 games in Brisbane.

Queensland has revealed an audacious plan to take Olympic cricket matches to provincial cities before a blockbuster Gabba final which would be a showpiece of the 2032 Brisbane Games.

Cricket will return to the Olympics in Los Angeles in 2028 after going missing for 128 years since its lone appearing in the Paris Games of 1900.

The decision was announced by the International Olympic Committee Board in India on Friday and will be officially ratified over the weekend.

It is a formality cricket will stay for the Brisbane Games where regional cities including Bundaberg, Mackay, Townsville, Toowoomba and Cairns will have the chance to offer their services for pool games in the six-team men’s and women’s T20 competitions.

Cricket is back in the Olympics after more than 120 years in exile. Picture: Getty Images.

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has welcomed the decision and believes it will enable the Games to spread further outside Brisbane throughout the state.

Already there are 35 venues spread across Queensland including football preliminaries in Cairns, Toowoomba and Townsville.

Following a review by the Olympic Programme Commission, the IOC Executive Board puts the @LA28 Organising Committee's additional sports proposal to the IOC Session.

Baseball/softball, cricket (T20), flag football, lacrosse (sixes), and squash are the 5 sports submitted. pic.twitter.com/pL6IOn87Jj

— IOC MEDIA (@iocmedia) October 13, 2023

“I have said from the beginning that all of Queensland will share the pride of hosting the 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games,’’ Palaszczuk said.

“The inclusion of cricket – and the opportunities for regional Queensland – is a huge win for Queensland.

“It opens exciting opportunities for the Gabba and its world-famous pitch to possibly host a final between the Opening Ceremony and the athletics which start in the second week of the Games.”

The Gabba looks set to host the Cricket final of the 2032 Games.

It had been thought the Gabba, which will host the opening and closing ceremonies, would be out of play for cricket matches but the hope is it could be in play for a solitary match – the final.

It had been speculated Games cricket matches could be taken to Sydney or Melbourne but that appears to be off the table.

The decision to include cricket was a winner for both the Games and the code.

Olympic officials have long been concerned that India has been a blind spot for the Games but the fact that cricket is as much a religion as a sport in that country will detonate stunning interest in the Games.

Plans are also in place to take matches to provincial cities like Townsville.

Television rights for the Games in India likely to increase 10 fold from $30 million per Games on the back of this decision.

And cricket longs to crack the elusive North American market and the Games will be an important step in doing so.

Queensland Cricket officials are overjoyed at the decision to readmit cricket to the Games because it enhances their chances of having Allan Border Field redeveloped as well as the Gabba.

Australian men won a silver medal when cricket featured at the 1998 Malaysian Commonwealth Games with skipper Steve Waugh revelling in the occasion.

Originally published as Cricket set to return to Olympics in 2028, as Queensland prepare to capitalise for Brisbane 2032 Games