Why are there no baseball or softball games at the event?

Baseball and softball are Olympic sports again.

After being removed from the official program in 2008, both sports made a comeback for the 2021 Summer Olympics — played in 2021 thanks to a global pandemic. It was the first time in 13 years that someone had won a gold medal for their dominance on the diamond field.

Neither sport will be in Paris during the 2024 Summer Olympics, however. The short answer: why? The organizers in Paris didn’t want it.

Yukihito Taguchi-USA TODAY Sports

The Paris 2024 Olympic Games Organizing Committee has omitted baseball and softball

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) is ultimately responsible for organizing the Games and determining which events are included. They don’t go it alone. They make the arrangements, according to the IOC, “on the recommendation of the Olympic Program Commission and in cooperation with the International Federations and the relevant Organizing Committee of the Olympic Games.”

That gave local organizers extra leverage in choosing new sports for the Games. Paris chose skateboarding, surfing, sport climbing and breakdancing, leaving the 2021 Olympic sports of baseball, softball and karate off the agenda.

Yukihito Taguchi-USA TODAY Sports

Fortunately, softball and baseball will return for the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles

That local influence benefited baseball and softball at an Olympiad in Japan that brought the two sports back to the podium. It’s even bigger where it’s a national pursuit. The LA28 committee offered six new sports for its Games, the majority of which are extremely American in nature:

• baseball and softball
• flag football
• lacrosse
• squash
• cricket

The question is what form the two diamond sports will take in 2028. Major League Baseball has long resisted a pause in play, allowing the world’s best players to compete. Professional softball doesn’t have the same infrastructure, but leagues like Women’s Professional Fastpitch, Association of Fastpitch Professionals and Athletes Unlimited would also have to adjust their schedules to accommodate a two-week break and all the preparation that entails.