The 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles are getting an extreme makeover, with organizers proposing changes that would shift basketball into the brand-new Intuit Dome, put a temporary swimming pool in the middle of SoFi Stadium and move softball games 1,300 miles east to Oklahoma City.
Revisions to the original master plan would incorporate Southern California’s newest sports venues, make thousands of additional tickets available to fans and generate an estimated $156 million in savings and revenue, the private LA28 committee said.
Friday’s announcement marks the first of several expected updates to a concept devised years ago, before the construction of SoFi and Intuit in Inglewood, when organizers first bid for the Games.
(LA28)
“The venue landscape in L.A. since 2016 has changed a lot,” LA28 chairman Casey Wasserman said. “The worst thing we could do is be static and not adjust.”
International Olympic Committee leaders have conditionally approved the proposal, pending a vote by the Los Angeles City Council. Under terms of a Games agreement with organizers, L.A. has a right to vote on modifications occurring within its boundaries.
Wasserman expressed confidence about moving forward on what he called “an opportunity that is too unique not to take advantage of.”
This kind of reshuffling is nothing new for Olympic host cities, especially in the four-year countdown to the opening ceremony. During the “delivery” phase, the optimism of brainstorming and planning often gives way to the reality of meeting deadlines and balancing budgets.
One element of L.A.’s plans, which include the 2028 Paralympics, has been untouchable from the start. The Coliseum, a historical centerpiece for the 1932 and 1984 Summer Games, will be modified with a raised floor to host track and field. Almost everything else has been subject to review.
The opening of the Intuit Dome later this year affords the opportunity to shift basketball from Crypto.com Arena to the sport’s newest venue. It also allows for moving another marquee sport, gymnastics, from the older Forum to Crypto.com. The downtown home of the Lakers and Kings has more seats and, because it was designed to accommodate a hockey rink, more floor space for gymnastics’ multiple events, such as the vault and the uneven bars.
LA28 estimates the Intuit and Crypto.com changes will result in a net budgetary gain of $38 million. Moving the sport of swimming could be even more economically beneficial.
Original plans called for building a temporary venue on USC’s baseball field. Now, organizers hope to mimic the success of the 2024 U.S. Olympic swimming trials, which have set attendance records by placing a pool inside the Indianapolis Colts football stadium.
SoFi’s luxury suites, restaurants and estimated 38,000 capacity for swimming could bring an additional $106 million in revenue, LA28 said.
Though the Forum might be assigned another sport in future revisions, its current exclusion underscores L.A.’s status as one of a handful of cities worldwide that has enough existing facilities to host the Olympics without permanent construction. The surfeit is a benefit to fans.
An artist’s rendering of the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics gymnastics competition at Crypto.com Arena.
(LA28)
“All these venues have so much capacity,” Wasserman said. “The opportunity to attend events is much more broad.”
Adding seats is also critical to an undertaking that comes with an estimated $7-billion price tag.
Organizers have promised to cover all costs through ticket sales, corporate sponsorships and other revenues. If they fall short, taxpayers will pay the difference because city and state legislators have agreed to serve as a financial backstop.
LA28’s proposed venue changes could help balance the budget. Getting to the estimated $156-million benefit requires some per-venue calculations.
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1. A rendering of the diving venue in Exposition Park. 2. A rendering of the Sepulveda Basin Recreation Area, which is slated to host multiple Olympic events. 3. A rendering of the canoe slalom venue in Oklahoma City. 4. An artist’s rendering of the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics basketball competition at Intuit Dome in Inglewood. (LA28)
At SoFi, for instance, the estimated $106 million in increased ticket sales and other revenues would be partially offset by $58 million in higher rent and other costs. That would put the estimated net benefit at $49 million.
Money is also part, but not all, of the surprising decision to hold softball and canoe slalom four states away.
The move aligns with a recent trend that has seen the IOC scramble to assuage cities fearful of bidding for the Games and risking massive debt. IOC leadership has encouraged looking for cost savings wherever they can be found.
Oklahoma City entered the picture for LA28 because it already has two needed venues.
Its 13,000-seat softball stadium is larger than any comparable ballpark in Southern California and, located adjacent to the sport’s hall of fame, has a track record for drawing fans.
The city’s world-class canoe slalom venue, just south of downtown, will save on building a $39-million temporary course. Chamber of Commerce officials there have further sweetened the deal by offering to assume all risk; if the Games go over budget, they would cover outstanding expenses for their two venues.
“We are confident we will be an outstanding partner to LA28 in creating a dynamic environment for Olympians and fans,”
Oklahoma City Mayor David Holt said in a statement.
There might have been another, subtler motivation for organizers to look afar. Oklahoma Rep. Tom Cole is chairman of the powerful House Appropriations Committee at a time when LA28 has lobbied for federal help with Games security and transportation funding.
With canoe slalom potentially leaving its original location in the Sepulveda Basin, plans for the San Fernando Valley site would be completely overhauled. Shooting would depart. Same with equestrian, because the basin isn’t large enough to satisfy the IOC’s desire to keep the sport’s three disciplines — jumping, dressage and eventing — in the same location.
LA28 has proposed holding equestrian events at Galway Downs in Temecula. In return, the Valley would get an arguably more-popular trio of skateboarding, BMX cycling and archery.
In other changes, the LA84 Foundation/John C. Argue Swim Stadium, a 1932 Olympic venue adjacent to the Coliseum, would be updated to host diving in 2028. Artistic swimming — which used to be known as synchronized swimming — would share a planned water polo venue along the oceanfront in Long Beach.
The status of other potential venues — Dodger Stadium for baseball, the Rose Bowl for soccer, Santa Monica for beach volleyball — will be announced in coming months. Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson remains slated to host a number of sports, but it could be a year before the list is finalized.
When the Olympics finally arrive in Southern California four years from now, fans might notice that — because of IOC sponsorship rules — all corporate venue names will temporarily disappear. Crypto.com, for example, will become the “Arena in Downtown L.A.” for 17 days.
As LA28 executives continue to scrutinize their plans, they have vowed to look for more savings. Wasserman referenced Peter Ueberroth, the head organizer of the 1984 Summer Games, which finished with a multimillion-dollar surplus in part because of his penchant for trimming expenses.
“When you have to pay your own bills, you have to watch every penny,” Wasserman said. “We absolutely have a history of ’84 that sets the bar for us very high.”