Australia players celebrate winning the gold medal in the cricket final at the Birmingham Commonwealth Games in 2022.Credit:PA
“Cricket at the Olympic Games will provide mega increases in global TV audiences for the Olympics that will increase the value of its sports media rights very significantly,” said Colin Smith of Global Media and Sports,a leading professional sports advisory firm specialising in media rights.
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“This is especially the case for the subcontinent where minuscule media rights for the Olympics’s broadcast will immediately become mega estimated to be upwards of 16 to 26 times greater than current Olympics rights to reach[between][US] $250 to $400 million.”
For Cricket Australia,a leading advocate of Olympic inclusion for more than two decades,the move is less about advancing Australian cricket than the opportunities it opens up elsewhere.
A sport’s credibility in many nations is closely tied to its presence or absence from the Olympic program,and considerable public funds may also be opened up for cricket in countries where inclusion effectively means formal government recognition.
Opposition to cricket in the Olympics was led,for many years,by the cricket boards of England and India,for reasons of scheduling,possible loss of revenue,and the imposition of greater government oversight.
But with India,and Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s hometown of Ahmedabad set to bid for the 2036 summer games,cricket’s Olympic presence has now become mutually beneficial for enough parties to be an imminent reality.