MLB Considers Participation in the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics
The organizers of the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games remain hopeful that Major League Baseball (MLB) will join the NFL in sending the world’s best athletes to the competition.
Casey Wasserman, president of LA28, has been in close contact with MLB commissioner Rob Manfred regarding the decision that both the league and the players’ union must make regarding participation in the Olympic Games, which will be held in the middle of the 2028 baseball season. There is still no deadline for this decision.
I’m optimistic because it’s the right thing for baseball, for the players, and for the Olympics. When things make sense for everyone, you can usually find a way to make them happen.
Casey Wasserman
LA28 was spurred by the unanimous decision of NFL owners to approve player participation in the inaugural Olympic flag football event, which Wasserman called “an incredible day.” The Los Angeles organizing committee is hoping for similar news regarding baseball.
Wasserman has been presenting Manfred with the benefits of putting baseball under the Olympic spotlight for over a year.
The head of the players’ union, Tony Clark, has stated that his players wish to compete for Olympic gold, especially those who have already experienced international competition in previous World Baseball Classics. Several superstars have publicly expressed their interest in playing in the Los Angeles Olympic tournament, including the current league MVPs.
However, the decision is more complex for baseball, as the Olympics coincide with the regular season, which would require significant changes to the schedule, similar to the quadrennial interruption of the NHL season when the league participates in the Winter Olympics. Furthermore, baseball is not a mainstay of the Olympic program like ice hockey, but has been included intermittently in the Summer Games for decades.
NFL players who are part of their countries’ flag football teams will likely miss no more than a few days of training camp in July 2028, but MLB would have to make a drastic adjustment to its usual competition schedule.
Commissioner Manfred discussed the decision last month in New York during a meeting of the Associated Press Sports Editors. “It’s a complicated issue for us,” Manfred said. “Many Major League players would be involved due to the different countries that would likely participate, which would be very disruptive to our season given the schedule, and we’re trying to analyze all of that… We see LA28 as a real opportunity from a marketing perspective.”
The sport known as America’s Pastime was only played as single-game Olympic exhibitions until 1984, when it joined the Los Angeles program as a demonstration sport.
Baseball became an official Olympic sport in Barcelona in 1992, but American professionals were not allowed to compete until 2000, when minor league players were allowed to play. The absence of the world’s best players was one of the reasons cited when baseball was subsequently removed from the London and Rio de Janeiro Games.
The sport returned at the Tokyo 2021 Games, but only for MLB players who were not on the 40-man roster. Japan’s top league suspended its season, and Japan won gold.
Baseball was once again discarded in Paris, but it was restored for LA28. The tournament will be played at the historic Dodger Stadium, the same venue that hosted the 1984 Olympic tournament.
