Baseball, softball and karate will be saying goodbye to the Olympic stage at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris. According to the NBC website, 32 different sports are on the program for the games, but unfortunately three will be canceled.

Sharon Pruiit-Young, a writer for the NPR website, said the decision to include and exclude sports is made by the International Olympic Committee. “The IOC website includes former athletes of current elite athletes in addition to the 99 members,” she added.

In addition, she explained that the IOC Executive Board proposes which sports should be included and the remaining Executive Board members vote on them. Five factors form the basis of a sport’s inclusion process, the website states. The factors are:

1. Value of sport that would contribute to the legacy of the Olympic Games
2. How long has the sport existed?
3. How popular the sport is in the host country
4. How much would it cost to broadcast the events?
5. Must be administered by an international sports federation and comply with both the Olympic Charter and the World Anti-Doping Code.

In addition, the website states that scheduling requirements and limitations of host venues, especially if they do not meet the criteria, may result in some sports being removed from the program. “Both baseball and softball were excluded from the 2012 Games in an anonymous IOC vote in 2005 and are not expected to be reinstated until 2020,” the website states.

The reason for baseball’s exclusion from the games has long been scheduling, according to NBC’s website. “Summer is a critical time for professional baseball, which creates scheduling conflicts with players who want to compete in the games for their countries,” the website says.

Athletes on Major League Baseball teams are under stress because several players will have to skip their summer games to compete in the Olympics, says Robert Manfred, MLB commissioner. In an interview with Forbes, Manfred said the players’ absence from their team would alter their games. “I believe our owners would not want a disruption to our season. Continuity is important,” he added.

Softball, baseball’s sister sport, will also be removed from the games. According to the website USAToday, the sport was on the Olympic program from 1966 to 2008. “Athletes who won medals in those years are worried about the impact this will have on their sport in the future,” the website says.

“It’s damaging to our sport. In this sport, you can be any size, any age, any shape, any color. Softball doesn’t discriminate and I think it deserves to be on the Olympic list on a regular basis,” says American pitcher Monica Abbott.

Karate is the latest sport to be excluded from the Games. It was rejected in previous Olympic bids because it lacked entertainment value and could not attract a younger audience, the Reuters website said. “This decision has surprised many in the martial arts community, especially because it is very popular in France,” the website said.

While baseball and softball fans patiently await the return of both sports in 2028, a newer sport called “breaking” will make its debut at the Games. According to the NBC Olympics website, it is a style of dance that originated in the Bronx in the 1970s. “16 men and 16 women, or B-boys and B-girls, compete against each other in a best-of-three, one-on-one match lasting one minute,” the website states.

As soon as the breaker has finished his routine, the player from the opposing team immediately begins his routine in the battle format. “The scoring consists of 60 percent performativity and creativity and 40 percent personality, technique, variety and musicality,” the website states.