The NBA has allowed players to participate in the Olympics since the 1992 Games in Barcelona. The NHL followed suit in 1998 in Nagano, Japan. The NFL will permit its players to play flag football in in Los Angeles in 2028.
That leaves Major League Baseball as the final holdout among the four major North American men's sports leagues, despite baseball's three-decade history as part of the Olympic program. On Tuesday, commissioner Rob Manfred signaled that MLB may be willing to change that.
"I think it is a opportunity to market the game on a really global stage," Manfred told reporters via the Associated Press. "Obviously the clubs are going to have to endorse this. I mean, this is a big deal."
The Olympic baseball tournament falls directly in the middle of MLB's season in July. In '28, the event will be staged over six days at Dodger Stadium.
"They put out a schedule. They tell you it's not going to move. We'll see whether there's any movement on that," Manfred said. "It is possible... to play the All-Star Game in its normal spot, have a single break that would be longer, obviously, but still play 162 games without bleeding into the middle of November."
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Rob Manfred Says MLB Exploring Sending Players to 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.
