By: Taruka Srivastav
In October, America’s pastime — baseball — finally came to India. Major League Baseball (MLB) hosted its inaugural MLBx 3-on-3 baseball event in Mumbai, marking its official entry and sports crossover initiative in India. Meanwhile, India’s favorite pastime — cricket — has also made its way to the United States. Major League Cricket was founded in 2023 and now features six franchises. The 2024 Men's T20 Cricket World Cup was also co-hosted in the United States, with games in Florida, North Carolina, Texas, and New York. These developments highlight how sport has become an increasingly important instrument of U.S.-India engagement. For India, sport is now about more than athlete exchanges and cultural diplomacy. It is about advancing cooperation in sports technology, high-performance training, governance, and investment. For the United States, sports diplomacy with a growing market such as India offers increasingly attractive commercial opportunities.
The timing for advancing a U.S.-India sports partnership at this juncture is particularly important. The United States will host the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games, which will feature cricket’s return to the Olympics after 128 years. For India, cricket is a powerful cultural connection and an important part of its international identity. Cricket’s Olympic inclusion represents a new avenue for American engagement with Indian communities, institutions, and businesses. India, meanwhile, has been confirmed as host of the 2030 Commonwealth Games in Ahmedabad (Amdavad) and is among the interested parties in hosting the 2036 Olympic Games. Increasing athlete performance, stadium technology, ticketing, broadcasting, and event management capabilities — including in partnership with market leaders such as the United States — will be high priorities for New Delhi over the coming years.
The United States boasts several comparative strengths when it comes to sports. American expertise in performance analytics, wearable technology, sports medicine, and broadcasting complements India’s expanding digital ecosystem. It also offers coaching exchanges, sports science fellowships, and partnerships with high-performance centers, including in Olympic and Paralympic disciplines. These opportunities run through government initiatives, educational institutions, and corporate entities. For example, the U.S. Embassy to India has offered to fund connections for Indian sports authorities, professional leagues, and sports-medicine institutions with American companies, experts, and research institutions. In 2024, Columbia Engineering and Dream Sports launched a five-year, $10 million AI Innovation Centre, combining American academic research with Indian sports technology expertise. And the National Basketball Association (NBA) Academy India, established in 2017, demonstrates the potential of American sporting institutions to contribute to Indian talent development.
Sports governance and integrity is equally important — and runs both ways. India’s ambitions to host major international events require institutional capacity in federation administration, athlete safeguarding, anti-doping, and financial transparency. The International Cricket Council’s September 2025 suspension of USA Cricket over governance failures also illustrates the challenges facing American sport ahead of the Los Angeles Olympics. Both countries could benefit from exchanging expertise on institutional accountability and sports administration.
At an official level, the main entities involved in sports diplomacy include the U.S. State Department’s Sports Diplomacy Division, which is involved in athlete exchanges, coaching initiatives, and mentoring; the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee, universities, and professional leagues, which contribute technical expertise; and the U.S. Commercial Service in India, which can facilitate business matchmaking, trade delegations, and investment partnerships. On the Indian side, the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, Sports Authority of India, Indian Olympic Association, and National Anti-Doping Agency would be natural counterparts.
A bilateral sports working group could bring these stakeholders together to develop a practical cooperation roadmap, identify priority sectors, and coordinate research, investment, and institutional exchanges. Such a framework would not require the governments to direct independent sporting federations. Rather, it would help businesses, researchers, and sporting institutions identify shared priorities. India’s sporting relationship with Australia offers a useful precedent. The India–Australia Roadmap for Sports Collaboration, building on their 2023 Memorandum of Understanding, identifies opportunities in sports science, high-performance training, research, major events, investment, and women’s sport.
For American policymakers, a sports partnership with India is an opportunity to expand commercial engagement, strengthen educational partnerships, advance sports governance, and deepen people-to-people ties with one of the world’s fastest-growing sporting markets. The 2028 Los Angeles Olympics provides the immediate catalyst, the 2030 Commonwealth Games in India offers the next milestone, and India’s Olympic ambitions provide a longer-term horizon. Washington already understands the diplomatic power and commercial opportunities of sport. The question is whether it is ready to make India a central partner in that strategy.
Taruka Srivastav is a former Asian Games athlete and founder of The Playknox.