Venue announced for cricket's Olympics return at Los Angeles 2028

Pakistan's Imam-ul-Haq shakes hands with India's KL Rahul and Shreyas Iyer after the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 match at Narendra Modi Stadium, Ahmedabad, India, October 14, 2023. — Reuters

Cricket at the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics will be played in a temporary, purpose-built structure at the Fairgrounds in Pomona, Southern California, the organising committee announced on Tuesday.

According to a press release issued by the Olympics organising committee, the Fairgrounds in Pomona, officially known as Fairplex, is a near-500-acre event complex in Southern California that has hosted the Los Angeles County Fair since 1922. It is also a year-round venue for concerts, trade shows, sports and cultural events.

“We’ve promised the world an incredible Olympic Games and today we’re proud to share the plan that will make it happen,” said LA28 CEO Reynold Hoover. “Los Angeles is the epicentre of sports, culture and entertainment, and every venue selected for the 2028 Games will provide athletes and fans the best possible experience.”

The International Cricket Council (ICC) has welcomed the announcement as excitement around cricket’s Olympic comeback has been building since it was confirmed that the sport would return to the Games after a 128-year gap.

The sport last featured at Paris 1900, where a one-off, two-day match between Great Britain and France was held—now recognised as an unofficial Test.

Both the men's and women's T20 competitions will feature six teams each, with a 90-player quota allocated per gender, allowing each nation to field a squad of up to 15 players.

The full tournament schedule will be finalised closer to the start of the Games.

“We welcome the announcement of the venue for cricket at Los Angeles 2028 as it is a significant step towards the preparation for our sport’s return to the Olympics," ICC Chair Jay Shah said.

“Although cricket is a hugely popular sport, it will be a fantastic opportunity to expand traditional boundaries when it features in the Olympics in the fast-paced, exciting T20 format that should appeal to new audiences.

“On behalf of the ICC, I want to express my gratitude to LA28 and the International Olympic Committee for their support and look forward to collaborating with them and ICC Members in preparing for LA28 and making cricket a huge success there.”

Cricket’s return to the Olympics was confirmed in October 2023, alongside the inclusion of five additional sports for the Los Angeles Games – baseball/softball, flag football, lacrosse (sixes) and squash.

The T20 format has previously featured in multi-sport events, with both men’s and women’s competitions held at the Asian Games in 2010, 2014 and 2023. The 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham featured a women’s T20 tournament.

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