The last time Los Angeles hosted a Summer Olympics, in 1984, Mary Lou Retton made history as the first ever to win gold for the United States in the women’s all-around gymnastics event, and women competed for the first time in cycling and the marathon.

Before that, the City of Angels held its first Olympics in 1932, when it introduced the current format of hosting the Olympic Games over 15–18 days rather than over the course of months. Now, the countdown is on for Los Angeles to host its third Summer Olympic Games, scheduled to take place July 14–30, 2028, making it one of the few cities to host the Olympics three times. Los Angeles will also host the Paralympic Games for the first time, Aug. 15–27, 2028.

Los Angeles is ready to welcome the world for the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games,” said Adam Burke, president and CEO, LA Tourism. “As the first U.S. city to host the Olympics a record three times — and the Paralympics for the first time — we’re embracing this moment with excitement and purpose.”

LA28, the body responsible for delivering the Games, is a privately funded, nonprofit organization with revenue from corporate partners, licensing agreements, hospitality and ticketing programs, and contributions from the International Olympic Committee. LA28 employs 700 people currently and plans to scale that up to about 4,000 as the games get closer.

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“The team started the bid process back in 2014,” said Gigi Gutierrez, manager, Commercial Communications, LA28 Olympic and Paralympic Games. She recalled when then-L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti proposed the idea to put a bid together.

The last two cities standing were Paris and Los Angeles, and in 2017 the IOC for the first time awarded two bids at one time, making Paris the official winner of the 2024 Games and L.A. the winner of the 2028 Games. The 2028 Games will be entirely privately funded, unlike those in Paris and other recent hosts which utilized government funding, according to Gutierrez. “The U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee is completely unfunded by the United States government.”

LA28, in a commercial joint venture with the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee, formed U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Properties, or USOPP. Headquartered in L.A., it drives revenue for both organizations through sponsorships, licensing and ticketing.

Gutierrez said the LA28 budget estimate is $7.2 billion, with a goal at minimum to break even. “Our goal is to sell about 14 million tickets. We’re in great position now. We just closed out the most successful initial ticket sale in the history of the Games. We sold about 4 million tickets in our first drop. We’ll have another ticket drop later this year, and then we will go on sale with tickets for the Paralympics in January 2027.”

Women’s Olympic sessions outsold men’s 93 percent to 88 percent in LA28’s Drop 1. LA28 will host the highest number of female Olympians ever, with over 100 more women than men. Tickets during Drop 1 were sold across 85 countries and all 50 U.S. states plus U.S. territories, with top international sales coming from the United Kingdom, Canada, Mexico and Japan.

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LA28 also secured $2 billion in commercial sponsorships and aims to engage 50,000 volunteers. One of the first sponsorships came from Delta Air Lines, a partner and official airline of Team USA. Airbnb is also a sponsor, and LA28 secured a partnership with Uber in the meal delivery space with Uber Eats.

VENUES
An estimated total of 10,500 Olympians will compete across36 Olympic and 23 Paralympic sports, with more than 800 competition events on tap. Five sports proposed by LA28 will be added, including the return of baseball, which was excluded in the 2024 games, as well as the return of softball, lacrosse and cricket. Flag football and squash will appear for the first time.

The games will take place at more than 40 venues, mostly throughout Los Angeles and Southern California. These will be the first Summer Games in 80 years to not build any new permanent venues, instead utilizing existing stadiums and arenas.

Dodger Stadium © Chon Kit Leong | Dreamstime.com

Venues range from Dodger Stadium for baseball to SoFi Stadium, which will be called 2028 Stadium during the Olympics, for swimming and the opening ceremony. LA Memorial Coliseum will cohost the opening ceremony, track and field events, and the closing ceremony. Crypto.com Arena, which will be called DTLA Arena, will host artistic gymnastics, trampoline gymnastics and the final stages of the boxing competition.

Other locations include Pasadena’s Rose Bowl Stadium for soccer and Rose Bowl Aquatic Center for diving; Venice Beach for the triathlon; and Trestles State Beach, a premier surfing destination, for surfing competitions.

“With our iconic venues across the region hosting a dynamic lineup of new and returning events, LA28 is setting a new global standard for innovation, sustainability and the future of mega-events,” Burke said.

Anaheim will also utilize its Honda Center for volleyball during the Summer Olympics 2028. “Looking ahead to the 2028 Olympic Games, Anaheim is already seeing momentum as a destination for major events and global visitors,” said Ronnie Collins, chief sales officer, Visit Anaheim.

According to Gutierrez, a decentralized approach to the venues will minimize the impact on specific areas in Southern California. But she added it poses an operational challenge unique to LA28 driven by a very compressed delivery time at some of the existing venues.

SoFi Stadium © Walter Cicchetti | Dreamstime.com

“For example, if the Lakers make it to the NBA finals and they’re playing at Crypto.com Arena, that means they’re playing into late June, and then the build out of, let’s say, the gymnastics facility that will ultimately take place there could be slightly delayed,” she said. “It’s something that we’re entirely prepared for, but it’s something that is unique to these Games.”

Soccer matches for the 2028 Summer Olympics will be hosted across seven U.S. cities, such as New York and Nashville, while the semifinals, bronze matches and gold medal matches will be played at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena. Oklahoma City will host two Olympic events that have dedicated venues for their sports: softball and the canoe slalom.

One nuance in working with the multiple venues is they are not allowed to use their commercial name; for instance, Crypto.com Arena will be renamed DTLA Arena. “For an Angelino, they might understand that, but for a fan coming internationally, that might be confusing,” Gutierrez said. “We’ll work with Google to integrate all of the game times and names into their Google Maps interface to make wayfinding a lot easier.”

LA28 plans to spread out volunteers everywhere, including airports, to help both athletes and spectators navigate.

Surfing competitions will take place at Trestles State Beach © Victor Villodre | Dreamstime.com

SUSTAINABILITY
LA28’s focus on sustainability, which drove the initiative to use only existing venues, also ties to other aspects of the Olympics, such as transport. “Our traffic approach is a transit-first approach, so most venues will not have parking at or near the venues,” said Gutierrez. “We will use a public transit and park and ride model, in addition to shuttles, to give fans reliable options to reach all of the events.”

The aim is to use 100 percent zero- or near-zero emission buses to supplement existing public transit. Also, with the Games in mind, in 2024 Los Angeles’ Metro secured a $139 million “Reconnecting Communities and Neighborhoods” grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation to support a variety of projects, including bus-only lanes, bus corridor improvements and bike- share stations. LA Metro Rail also recently completed the first phase of the full Downtown-to-West L.A. subway connection, adding three new underground stations along Wilshire Boulevard.

There will not be a purpose-built Olympic village, but instead the UCLA campus — which is part of LA Metro’s D Line extension, linking it to Downtown L.A. — will host LA28’s Olympic and Paralympic Athletes’ Village. UCLA committed to achieve 100 percent clean-purchased electricity by last year and aims to divert 90 percent of its municipal solid waste from the landfill through a comprehensive zero-waste strategy.

Los Angeles International Airport is also undergoing a $30 billion capital improvement program ahead of the Olympics. The Terminal 4 and 5 Modernization Program is scheduled for completion by 2028. LA28 expects a greater percentage of its attendees to arrive by plane than in Paris 2024. To address this portion of the carbon footprint, LA28 is exploring opportunities to leverage sustainable aviation fuel to reduce emissions from air travel. For example, in 2024 Delta Air Lines covered the cost of SAF to reduce the emissions impact of the LA28 Olympic Flag Flight to transfer the Olympic flag from Paris to Los Angeles.

LA28’s Venue Sustainability Guidelines will be utilized at all venues to help energy and water conservation, waste management and more. All venues will be required to report energy, waste and water metrics during the Games. Also, a food and beverage team is collaborating with each stadium to help with sustainability goals such as using reusable, recyclable or compostable containers and offering free hydration stations. LA28 Food Vision will also help make sure 100 percent of Los Angeles area venues will activate food donation programs.

Squash and flag football will be new events in LA © Nomadsoul1 | Dreamstime.com

COMMUNITY
LA28 is teaming up with community organizations to make sports more readily accessible for kids across the region, including adaptive sports before the Paralympic Games. PlayLA, a citywide youth sports initiative, is the primary driver of those efforts. LA28, alongside the IOC, is investing up to $160 million in PlayLA. “We’re effectively creating the first publicly funded youth sports program in the city,” said Gutierrez. By 2028, 100 percent of the City of Los Angeles’ eligible recreation centers and aquatic centers will offer low- to no-cost youth sports programming.

“The legacy LA28 vows to leave is one with a human focus,” said Gutierrez.