Came to post this. Baseball should also return. It's no less popular world-wide than basketball, and it can be as much of a draw in certain areas of the world. I get the feeling, and I really hope I'm wrong, but that baseball was cut because the MLB refused to allow the professionals to play and that since the NBA allows theirs to play, Basketball remains.
The reason why I wouldn't expect Cricket to show up is because the length of time a single match alone can take is probably not feasible for the timetable of the Olympics.
20/20 cricket doesn't take any time at all but like baseball should remain outside of the Olympics. It is restricted to a few countries that hardly constitute a global strength.
15 a side union is out of the question as that would undermine the Rugby World Cup, players would not be released by clubs in an already congested club and international calendar and there is no way you can cram the physical effort required in XV's into two weeks.
On paper, it sounds awesome. Imagine teams of Vettel/Rosberg, Webber/Ricciardo, Button/Hamilton (again), Grosjean/Vergne, Alonso/de la Rosa, Raikkonen/Kovalainen, Schumacher/Glock, Petrov/Aleshin, Kobayashi/Nakajima, Karthikeyan/Chandhok etc. all racing identical F1 cars under their nation's flag. It's every Formula 1 fans dream.
But even if the rules were to change vis-a-vis mechanical propulsion being prohibited for Olympic competition, auto racing is impractical for so many reasons.
Chief among them is the cost involved. If you wanted to go best of the best and have a Formula 1 style category, the construction of one of those cars costs in the vicinity of $7-8 million. And who's going to build them? If you left it to the respective nations, only a handful would be able to do it. Then you take into consideration the cost of fuel, tyres, telemetry equipment, logistics of transporting massive amounts of equipment and material, and then the scores of engineers, mechanics and technicians required to keep the cars running.
All of that for what? One race. Even if you win, you've spent millions and millions of dollars for one medal. Invest the same amount into your swimming team, and you could end up with a dozen.
There's a good reason why professional motorsports are teeming with advertisements on every spare inch of space on the track, the cars and the drivers. They need a **** ton of money to do what they do.
Close enough to the equator. I'll say it more clearly, sport isn't "global" unless it's played widely in Europe or enough G20 countries.
Major sport in Australia, India, South Africa and the United Kingdom. Four out of nineteen isn't awful, is it? That's four more than handball, for starters.
Major sport in Australia, India, South Africa and the United Kingdom. Four out of nineteen isn't awful, is it? That's four more than handball, for starters.
Handball is a major sport in France and Germany at least, arguably South Korea as well.
I was just thinking...if skateboarding was a summer Olympic sport, would Shaun White be the first ever athlete to compete (and win medals) at both the Summer and Winter games?
i would like to see games that people follow. UFC, Baseball, Golf, Football, NASCAR, Indy, Horse Racing etc.
I know its a pipe dream but an olympics like that would be really something to see.
UFC isnt a sport.
Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) is a sport but it would be very hard to pull of at the Olympics. To many injuries and wouldnt realy work with headgear like amateur boxing..
I was just thinking...if skateboarding was a summer Olympic sport, would Shaun White be the first ever athlete to compete (and win medals) at both the Summer and Winter games?
Nope.
Our flag bearer Clara Hughes for Canada has multiple medals at the summer and winter games. Cycling and Speed skating.
UFC isnt a sport.
Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) is a sport but it would be very hard to pull of at the Olympics. To many injuries and wouldnt realy work with headgear like amateur boxing..
Yes. It wouldn't make sense to put MMA in the Olympics. If you were to add it, only BJJ, Judo and wrestling would be allowed (and two of them already have their own separate events). No striking unless they wear armors...
I'm never gonna be interested in baseball since they don't have the best players. Baseball's most serious international competition is the Little League World Series. World Baseball Classic is glorified Spring Training.
It would have to be Field Lacrosse because Box Lacrosse wouldn't be competitive enough. Some may say even field lacrosse wouldn't be competitive enough but the sport is growing world wide and it is more competitive than Basketball at this point.
I'll say it more clearly, sport isn't "global" unless it's played widely in Europe or enough G20 countries.
