President Biden to Back Indigenous Lacrosse Team's Efforts to Play At 2028 Olympics

President Joe Biden has voiced his support for an Indigenous lacrosse team to compete at the 2028 Olympics.

Speaking at the White House Tribal Nations Summit on Wednesday (h/t Nick Zaccardi of NBC Sports), Biden said he supported the Haudenosaunee Confederacy being able to compete under their own flag at the Los Angeles Games.

The Haudenosaunee Confederacy is made up of six nations of Indigenous people in upstate New York and Canada. The Haudenosaunee nationals men's lacrosse team has been a member of the Pan-American Lacrosse Association since 1988.

Even though the Haudenosaunee group has medaled at each of the last three World Championships dating back to 2014, Victor Mather of the New York Times wrote in October that the team is not eligible for the 2028 Olympics.

In an email statement to Mather, the International Olympic Committee said "only national Olympic committees recognized by the I.O.C. can enter teams for the Olympic Games."

This would mean the United States and Canada can include Haudenosaunee players on their teams, but the official team is not currently eligible to compete on the Olympic stage.

Mather also noted the 2022 World Games, which is not part of the Olympic qualifying process, initially didn't include the Haudenosaunee among the list of invited teams. It was only after Ireland dropped out that the Indigenous group was added to the field.

The Haudenosaunee Confederacy is credited with inventing lacrosse. The sport has been rapidly rising in popularity in recent years to become the fastest-growing sports among high school and college students in the United States.

Lacrosse was contested at the 1904 and 1908 Olympics. It was brought back as a demonstration sport in 1928, 1932 and 1948.

The International Olympic Committee approved lacrosse as an Olympic sport in October starting with the 2028 Games.

The Haudenosaunee men's national team is currently ranked No. 3 in the world, behind the United States and Canada.