LA28 lifeline: USA Cricket opens door to USOPC funding and elite training
bySmit Patel•
A 26-member USA men’s national team contingent spent three days at the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Training Center in Colorado Springs this week© Getty
A 26-member USA men’s national team contingent spent three days at the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Training Center in Colorado Springs this week©Getty
A 26-member USA men’s national team contingent spent three days at the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Training Center in Colorado Springs this week as preparations begin to take shape for the 2027 Pan American Games and the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics.
The camp, held from September 27 to 29, was organised in collaboration with the ICC and the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee and represented the players’ first structured exposure to the American Olympic high-performance system.
Players underwent physical and medical screening, Functional Movement Screening, shoulder assessments, medical checks, 20-metre sprint testing and repeated running drills, with the results expected to feed into individual 24-month performance plans ahead of LA28.
The significance for USA Cricket, however, could extend well beyond a three-day camp. Cricbuzz understands that the USOPC has told the USA team management that national-team players can access the Colorado Springs facility for training and that injured players can also use its rehabilitation infrastructure. For a national program that has historically operated without a permanent centralised high-performance base, that could provide access to resources that would otherwise be difficult to replicate independently.
The Colorado Springs centre is one of the main high-performance hubs in the US Olympic system and hosts roughly 15,000 athletes annually across a range of programmes. Over the years, the wider US Olympic training ecosystem in Colorado Springs has been used by some of the country’s most prominent athletes, including Michael Phelps, LeBron James and Simone Biles.
Its appeal lies largely in the level of sports science and medical support available under one roof. Biomechanics is a major part of the facility’s work. Athletes can be assessed using embedded force plates for sprinting and jumping, three-dimensional motion analysis, pressure-sensor treadmills and anti-gravity running systems. For USA’s cricketers, that creates the possibility of a more individualised approach to conditioning, injury prevention and rehabilitation in the two years leading into the Olympics.
It could also have financial implications. USA Cricket remains under ICC suspension and is still awaiting the logistical completion of its exit from bankruptcy after MLC stepped in with financial support. In that environment, the possibility of USOPC-backed high-performance support assumes added importance.
Cricbuzz understands that USA Cricket could eventually receive Olympic-preparation funding from the USOPC as LA28 draws closer. Rugby’s example provides a useful benchmark in speculating the financial bounty USA Cricket stands to gain. Much like cricket, rugby is a relatively recent re-entrant to the Olympic fold, having returned at Rio 2016 after a 92-year absence. Ahead of the Paris 2024 Olympics, USOPC support for rugby included roughly $2.01 million in NGB high-performance grants, around $700,000 in athlete stipends, approximately $499,850 in athlete high-performance special grants and $180,000 in Operation Gold awards. High-performance-centre support added another roughly $217,000, while total USOPC resources and services associated with rugby were approximately $5.5 million.
Beyond LA28, there may also be a larger strategic consideration for the ICC. If cricket remains on the Olympic programme in future Games, the governing body may have to devise qualification pathways that give emerging markets such as the United States a realistic route to participation rather than relying predominantly on global rankings. A continental qualification structure could be one such mechanism.
That assumes added significance given the level of high-performance investment that could potentially flow into American cricket through the USOPC. Such funding would be unprecedented for an Associate nation and could provide the kind of sustained athlete development, sports science and training infrastructure that cricket in the United States has rarely had access to.
For the ICC, which has spent decades seeking a meaningful breakthrough into the world’s biggest sports market, keeping the US competitive and relevant within the Olympic ecosystem could therefore carry significance well beyond medals. Continued Olympic participation, coupled with USOPC investment, could help create the high-performance foundation needed to give the sport a more substantial foothold in the country.
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