A decision about baseball’s place in future Olympic Games will be made in August 2016, just before the start of the Rio Games in Brazil. Baseball and softball have been off the Olympic program since the 2008 Beijing Games but have been making a hard push to be reinstated for the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo.
The International Olympic Committee announced Thursday that it will decide how many sports and which potential new sports can be added for Tokyo — and baseball and softball are thought to be top contenders. Other sports vying for admittance include karate, squash, and billiards. The IOC has not decided how many new sports will be added.
Working in baseball’s favor is the sports’ huge popularity in Japan, and that many of the facilities and much of the infrastructure needed for baseball already exist. But IOC vice president John Coates perhaps threw a bit of shade on the idea of adding large team events to an Olympic program that already is expected to host more than 10,000 athletes in 300 events.
“If there are team events involved, there's going to be more athletes involved. If there weren't team events involved, there could be a combination of other sports. We don't want to rule out any combination.”
Adding baseball and softball would certainly add a significant number of athletes. In 2008, the baseball competition featured eight teams with 24-man rosters. Softball featured eight teams of 15.
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Major League Baseball is actively supporting the Olympic movement – and trying to grow the game internationally. It is a financial supporter of the World Baseball Softball Confederation, which is leading the effort to get the sports back in the Olympics. It also supports and promotes the World Baseball Classic, the annual MLB Japan All-Star series, and events like last spring’s season-opening series in Australia.
In another boon to the international game, MLB clubs recently came to an agreement to allow minor-league players to play in the Pan American Games this summer in Toronto. Minor-league players who aren’t on a 40-man roster will be eligible to compete in the seven-team tournament which begins July 11. That bodes well for tournament organizers and international baseball as a whole. It’s starting to look like a safe bet that baseball will be back on the Olympic program by 2020.
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Ian Denomme is an editor for Yahoo Sports. Email him at denomme@yahoo-inc.com or follow him on Twitter.
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