Ignoring quota rules in favor of additional team sports is a first. Their new “Host Master Plan” underscores this point. The Americans are doing just about everything they want for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics. They’re bucking convention, rules and tradition. They’re getting the blessing, even the applause, of the IOC and the international federations.
For the additional sports of flag football, lacrosse, cricket, baseball/softball and squash, LA 2028 has abandoned the 10,500 Olympic athletes rule that Paris 2024 strictly adhered to. California is going even further with its master plan: They are rewriting the athletics program and their bid.
The changes are significant, affecting a large number of sports, more or less on a large scale, and all have already been approved by the international federations and verified by the IOC Executive Board.
Topping the list is swapping swimming and track and field in the competition schedule, with the swimmers swapping to week two and the runners promoted to week one. A real revolution, the first time since the 1968 Mexico Games.
LA 2028 chair Casey Wasserman put it bluntly: “Athletics is our flagship event, so we’re going to start with a bang.” It took courage. On the boldness quotient, Californians are unmatched.
But it’s not just for show. It’s also more logistical: LA 2028 is actually planning to hold the opening ceremony and the subsequent swimming events at SoFi Stadium, the American football stadium where the NFL’s Rams and Chargers play. The capacity would be kept at 70,000 for the opening ceremony, then reduced to 38,000 for swimming in a temporary facility. Americans would have less than a week to successfully complete the transition.
As with the 1984 Los Angeles Games, track and field events will be held at the recently renovated Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, but a new track will need to be installed — the old track used in California’s previous games was destroyed in the 1994 earthquake.
Another significant change is that whitewater canoeing (slalom and kayakcross) will leave California and relocate to Oklahoma City, located in the state of the same name. The competitions will take place on existing rivers that are regularly used in international competitions. Softball will follow the same route, but will also relocate to Oklahoma.
For the rest, the Los Angeles 2028 Master Plan isn’t afraid to go big: Gymnastics will take over the recently renovated venue, the Downtown LA Arena, the usual home of the NBA’s Lakers, the NHL’s Kings and the WNBA’s Sparks. It’s top-notch.
For the basketball world, it wouldn’t be a bad idea to reclaim the new jewel of Los Angeles, the future home of the Clippers in Inglewood.
Urban sports (BMX freestyle and racing, skateboard park and street) will take place in Sepulveda in the San Fernando Valley, as well as Olympic and Paralympic archery events.
The City of Long Beach will also host artistic swimming and para-swimming competitions, as well as competitions in several other sports to be announced at a later date.
Equestrian events will also be relocating, originally scheduled to take place at Sepulveda Dam Recreation Area but ultimately moving to an existing facility in Temecula. Shooting events will face the same fate, abandoning Sepulveda, but a destination is unclear, and has yet to be selected. All we know is that the events will take place at one of two shooting clubs in Southern California.
Casey Wasserman and the organizing committee have done the math: by tweaking the program and venue maps, they could save more than $150 million and “generate new revenue.” This message has the advantage of clarity, which is one the IOC wants to hear.