A long-shot bid to make football an Olympic sport has fallen short.
The International Olympic Committee rejected a bid to add football in time for the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. Football was lumped in with a bunch of sports most Americans have either never heard of or don’t consider sports (including bowls, bridge, chess, floorball, flying disc and korfball) in getting rejected by the IOC. Baseball and softball, which were previously Olympic sports and are popular in Japan, are considered the leading candidates to be added for the Tokyo Games.
Although American football isn’t particularly popular elsewhere in the world, it has been discussed as a possible Olympic sport from time to time. It was even played as a demonstration sport at the 1932 Olympics in Los Angeles, but that was just for one game matching up college all-stars from three California teams taking on all-stars from three Ivy League teams. For football to become an Olympic sport, it would need to demonstrate a far greater degree of interest from around the world than it currently has.
That may happen some day, as the NFL is investing heavily in enhancing its popularity overseas. But that day is a long way off.