The 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, California are expected to generate a lot of interest. Many familiar sports will return to the event, but new sports are expected to be involved as well. Two of these sports, cricket and flag football, are particularly interesting.
It will be fascinating to see how many NFL players participate in the flag football event. American football is a sport played primarily in the United States, but it is also a growing sport. The United States will be favored in flag football, but it could face some legitimate competition.
In the United States, cricket is not very popular. However, it is a sport enjoyed in different countries around the world.
Today we’re going to analyze the popularity of cricket and flag football to determine which countries will be the top contenders for both sports at the 2028 Olympics.
Flag Football in the United States
Flag football is already a trending topic in the United States. Every professional/college football player outside of the NFL would love to play the sport in the Olympics. However, some NFL players will likely choose to play.
However, the threat of injury will force some to sit out.
According to Google Trends, flag football has always been quite popular in the United States. Of course, it’s a trend now since it was recently announced as an Olympic sport. But Google search demand was just as high for flag football in February 2023 as it is today. This, of course, was because the NFL Pro Bowl featured a flag football game.
The inclusion of flag football in the NFL event has already led to the sport gaining popularity.
So we’ve established that the United States is interested in flag football, but what about other countries?
Flag Football around the world
Over the past few weeks, Google search demand for flag football around the world has seen a significant increase due to the announcement of the Olympics. The same cannot be said for the year as a whole.
February’s NFL Pro Bowl led to an uptick in search demand for the sport. However, overall, using the Google Trends scale of 0 to 100, search demand for flag football worldwide is mostly between 20 and 40.
That said, there are obviously many countries in the world. So, which countries are more interested in this sport than others?
Flag football would be played more than 100 countries, according to nflflag.com. The countries featured on the website are: Australia, New Zealand, Canada, China, Germany and the United Kingdom. Countries’ interest in the sport was summarized by Google Trends search data.
Before October, when the Olympics announcement was made, Australia had reached a high of 22 on Google Trends’ 0-100 scale for flag football web searches over the past 12 months . New Zealand, however, reached a high of 39 before October.
The UK doesn’t fare much better according to analyses, recording a high of 16 over the last 12 months on the scale.
The United States will, however, take note of flag football research data from China and Canada.
Chinese research data on flag football was inconsistent. Some months the country showed a zero on the scale. However, China’s highest score was 79, which occurred during the week of March 12-18, 2023. China also saw a peak in November and December 2022, as well as in late January /early February and July.
Canada has been extremely consistent in its demand for flag football research. The country reached a peak of 100 in January 2023. It has also never fallen below 10 on the scale.
Another country that has shown consistent results is Mexico. Mexico has not fallen below 22 on the scale over the past year and even reached a high of 100 in February.
There are certainly other countries that are also getting more into flag football. It will be fascinating to see which teams end up coming out on top against the United States at the 2028 Olympics.
Analyze the cricket
Cricket is not particularly popular in the United States. There is still decent interest. Again, before October, the United States reached a high of 61 on Google Trends’ 0-100 scale for cricket searches.
The United States, however, will struggle to win a cricket gold medal at the 2028 Olympics.
Cricket is a popular sport in countries such as: India, United Kingdom, Australia, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Australia. There are a number of other countries that also play and follow cricket.
Before October, the highest cricket search score in India was 70 on the Google Trends scale. Sri Lanka reached 100 in October 2022, but remained below 50 between November 2022 and August 2023. The country, however, reached 82 in September.
The UK hit the 100 mark in July. Australia also reached the 100 mark in December 2022.
In the Cricket World Cup, India is currently leading with a 5-0 record. New Zealand is second with a 4-1 record. South Africa, Australia and Pakistan follow closely.
The United States is unlikely to be favored in cricket during the 2028 Olympics. The sport projects to produce very competitive results.
Flag Football and Cricket at the 2028 Summer Olympics
The inclusion of cricket in the 2028 Olympics will give the entire world the opportunity to see the sport in an exciting way. It is undoubtedly a growing sport, which will attract increased interest in the United States.
Whichever country wins, it is a major victory for cricket.
The same can be said for flag football. Every American understands how popular the NFL is. Flag football is also a growing sport.
2028 is obviously a long way off, but the anticipation of the Olympics will attract more flag football fans. Countries around the world planning to participate in the Olympics will attempt to build and develop a competitive team.
Flag football and cricket will benefit enormously – as they already have – from their inclusion in the 2028 Summer Olympics.
