No softball in 2028 Olympics

[Shiloh]

They ruined the Olympics years ago when they allowed professional athletes instead of amateurs in my opinion


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US was the only first world country not using pros.
Because every other first world country + Russia have state-sponsored training and development, i.e. people being compensated to train and compete.
We were the only nation to have athletes working overnight shifts at UPS to make a living.
Allowing in pros evened the playing field. Somewhat. For certain sports.

 

[Shiloh]

Softball is not a for sure sport in the Olympics for the same reason American Football is not. They are both wildly popular here but participation in other parts of the world is limited. People mention events like team handball or even cricket and snicker but it is played widely in many, many places around the world, just not here.

Having said that I will be surprised if SB/BB don’t find their way into the LA games.


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Nah.

It's not about world popularity, nor lopsided wins in a certain sport by a certain nation.
(Check out Canada's record in women's ice hockey.)

It's about money.
Specifically, not enough of it to cover the costs associated with building two dedicated facilities (one for baseball, one for softball) when the Olympics aren't held in the US or Japan. And the lack of money is due to lack of interest because....drum roll.....MLB owners won't release their stars during the pennant races to go play on foreign soil for national pride.

 

[uncdrew]

I'm kind of interested in watching some Olympic break-dancing.

... and like someone mentioned earlier, the CWS is the pinnacle of softball to me. I barely watched US Olympic team last time but was glued to the college games.

 

[radness]

It's not about world popularity, nor lopsided wins in a certain sport by a certain nation.

Appears more so everybody/country gets to have something they want in it.
it's sort of like appeasing each country instead of having the same list of events ongoing.


Hmmm
Maybe if they just announced a rotation of all sports and events (even though that might be more years apart) the event still might get back into the rotation of being in the Olympics?

 

[JayW]

Seems to me the Olympics have catered to the US in many ways, especially in the Winter Olympics. Snowboarding events were added in 1988. These events were basically derived from the X Games. United States has the most Olympic medals in snowboarding. US has never been very good at the other Alpine events.

 

[schwabach]

They ruined the Olympics years ago when they allowed professional athletes instead of amateurs in my opinion


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Why? Even youth softball is professional in the sense that the majority of players have some pretty vital financial support from their families. A dirt poor kid can still make it, but they have to have a lot of raw talent.

 

[Eric F]

Seems to me the Olympics have catered to the US in many ways, especially in the Winter Olympics. Snowboarding events were added in 1988. These events were basically derived from the X Games. United States has the most Olympic medals in snowboarding. US has never been very good at the other Alpine events.

The inclusion of snowboarding in the Olympics mirrors what we see on the slopes. IMO.

Currently, the most dominant alpine skier in the world is American (on track towards being undeniably the best ever), and US ranks 3rd in Olympic medals for alpine skiing events. I have hard time agreeing that the US has never been very good.