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When the Olympics called, the NFL said yes<\/a>. In 2028, the L.A. Summer Games<\/a> will include flag football \u2014 and a selection of NFL players. How better to sell your sport internationally than to attach it to the world\u2019s largest sporting event?<\/p>\n Baseball is, uh, still thinking about it.<\/p>\n Read more:<\/b> Shaikin: Dodger Stadium gondola closer to reality? Sacramento might help Team McCourt<\/a><\/p>\n Two years after we first started talking<\/a> about whether major leaguers would play in the 2028 Olympics, Major League Baseball still has not said yes, and now the NFL and its publicity-gobbling machine is threatening to steal the spotlight.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n If MLB withholds its players, the NFL will steamroll whatever collection of minor leaguers and collegians appear on the Olympic diamond. So will the NBA All-Stars competing for basketball gold.<\/p>\n If MLB agrees to let its players participate \u2014 and Shohei Ohtani<\/a>, Aaron Judge and Bryce Harper have made clear they want to compete \u2014 hardly anyone will care about flag football.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have the best athletes in every sport,\u201d LA28 chief Casey Wasserman<\/a> told me.<\/p>\n \u201cWimbledon will end, they\u2019ll come here. The Tour de France will end, they\u2019ll come here and compete. Obviously, men\u2019s and women\u2019s basketball will have the greatest basketball players in the world. So we think that a sport like baseball ought to have the best players in the world playing.\u201d<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n Here is a statistic the NFL could never match: Of the rosters announced for Tuesday\u2019s All-Star Game, one in three players was born outside the United States. Those players represent eight different countries.<\/p>\n MLB has leveraged that global marketing opportunity into the World Baseball Classic, which has grown over two decades from a curiosity into a must-see event. The WBC returns next spring.<\/p>\n \u201cI think it\u2019s eventually going to get moved to the middle of the season,\u201d Team USA manager Mark DeRosa told me at Saturday\u2019s Futures Game. \u201cI think it\u2019s going to be a monster event moving forward.\u201d<\/p>\n The only difference between a WBC in the middle of the season and the Olympics in the middle of the season: MLB controls the WBC.<\/p>\n Dodger Stadium will host six games during the 2028 Olympics, but will MLB players be on any of the teams participating? (Mike DiGiovanna \/ Associated Press)<\/p>\n That is not a good enough reason for MLB to skip the Olympics. The best interests of baseball cannot always be measured in today\u2019s dollars.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n Should major leaguers participate in the Olympics?<\/p>\n \u201cOh, yeah,\u201d DeRosa said.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s not that simple a question,\u201d said Tony Clark, executive director of the players\u2019 union, onSaturday.<\/p>\n Clark said the union has had \u201cencouraging informal conversations\u201d with LA28 officials. What Clark would like to see from MLB is an actual plan \u2014 all the logistics for all the players, as the NBA and NHL provide when their players participate in the Olympics.<\/p>\n MLB has its own logistics issues too. For instance, if MLB skips the 2028 All-Star Game to accommodate the Olympics, how does the league compensate Fox? The league\u2019s media contracts expire after the 2028 season, so the 2029 All-Star Game might not be available to Fox, and MLB would rather not refund the big bucks.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n This much is set, according to Wasserman: The Olympic baseball tournament would cover six days at Dodger Stadium, with a six-team field. The United States would automatically qualify as the host country. The 2026 WBC could serve as a qualifying tournament for other countries, although that is more concept than certainty at this point.<\/p>\n What did Wasserman say in his pitch to major league owners?<\/p>\n Read more:<\/b> Shaikin: Why is Dodger Stadium SO LOUD?<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cWhat an incredible opportunity to elevate the sport in a city where you have one of the great cathedrals of the sport,\u201d he said. \u201cThere is no better chance to tell the global story of baseball than from the Olympics in Los Angeles.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n \u201cThey understand that. We could have another Dream Team, or two, depending on the countries. That is a vehicle to tell the story of baseball around the world, and that is really powerful.\u201d<\/p>\n To his credit, commissioner Rob Manfred gets that.<\/p>\n \u201cWe do see LA28 as a, you know, real opportunity from a marketing perspective,\u201d Manfred told<\/a> the Associated Press Sports Editors in April.<\/p>\n Logistics aside, Manfred needs to convince the owners \u2014 his bosses \u2014 that interrupting the regular season is worth it. If the Games were held halfway around the world, shutting down the season for two weeks might be problematic.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n But in Los Angeles, for one week? Kill the All-Star Game for a year, and start the regular season three days early, or finish it three days late.<\/p>\n Wasserman said he has had \u201cpretty consistent dialogue\u201d with the league.<\/p>\n \u201cWe hope they get to the right answer, which is Major League Baseball players being eligible to play,\u201d Wasserman said.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ll be as patient as we need to be to get to the right answer.\u201d<\/p>\n The wrong answer: The world is watching the Olympics, and MLB is giving us the Colorado Rockies.<\/p>\n![\"Overhead](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/07a057867e1a7612c9f1b3f8d951ec5c.jpeg\"\/)
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