2028 Summer Olympics

by Hayes Lester and Colin Im

The Summer Olympics will be returning to Los Angeles in 2028 for the third time in its history, and they are returning to the United States for the first time since 2002. Los Angeles is making history by hosting these Olympic Games, making it the first non-European city to host the event three times. L.A. hosted the Summer Olympics in 1932 and 1984. The 1932 games were the first to include an Olympic Village. In 1984, for the first time, the Olympics were fully funded by private corporate sponsorships, TV rights, and ticket sales, rather than funded by the government. We can expect an historic event in 2028 because of the new sports being added, the great venues and stadiums, and the diversity of these upcoming games. Also, a main goal of these Olympics is to have them be “Energy Positive,” which means they will generate more energy through renewable sources and energy efficiency efforts than the energy needed to power the Games. 

For the 2028 Olympics they will introduce new sports such as flag football, squash, cricket, lacrosse, men’s baseball, and women’s softball. Flag football and squash are the only sports that are new to the Olympics; cricket, lacrosse, baseball, and softball are returning after many decades of absence. All of these new and returning sports include separate tournaments for both genders. For the first time in Olympic history, there will be more female Olympians than males. For most of these new events such as lacrosse and cricket, they are making the duration of the events shorter, to make a fast-paced TV schedule. In lacrosse, they are playing on a smaller field and are doing 6 v. 6 instead of traditional 10 v. 10. In cricket, they are making the games go from 5 days to 3 hours. Some sports are being removed from this Olympics such as breakdancing, marathon race, and karate. Weightlifting and modern pentathlon may not return for these upcoming Olympic games. There will be lots of new and returning sports that will make the 2028 Olympics very exciting and fun to watch for viewers.

The 2028 Summer Games, administered locally through LA28, will feature a new initiative for the Olympics called the “No Build” strategy. This means that they are not building any new arenas or venues because they are just using the excellent ones that are already in Los Angeles, such as Sofi Stadium, the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, the Rose Bowl, Intuit Dome, Crypto.com Arena, and many more. Many different sports will be played in each venue, and the Olympic Village will be set up at UCLA. This is will save them over $150 million, which allows this money to be spent on other aspects of this complex, world-class event. 

Sofi Stadium will feature the largest swimming venue in Olympic history

For the LA2028 Olympics, they are prioritizing the Games’ impact to the planet and to people living in and visiting the city. This will be the “Energy Positive Games” where they plan to generate more renewable energy than they actually need to run the events. With this Energy Positive goal, they are making the materials for the event more reusable and recyclable after the event is over. In addition to this focus on sustainability, they are planning for “transit-first” games which will let people take zero-emission buses and public transportation instead of people taking their cars to the games, creating traffic, congestion and air pollution. There is a precedent for this initiative. In 1984, Los Angeles was able to reduce traffic congestion and air pollution during the Games by doing things like changing working hours for employees so they didn’t all drive at the same time. In addition, delivery times were changed to overnight hours so that during the Games, all truck traffic would occur after the events, which caused less traffic during the day. Officials also encouraged people to avoid peak highway hours and to share rides so there would be less cars on the road. This showed that by working together, we can have both a cleaner environment and a successful Olympics event.

These upcoming Olympic Games are going to make history and will be an event to remember, making sure every athlete gets the chance to shine on the world’s biggest stage as well as providing a positive spotlight on our city and its many sites and neighborhoods. In addition, through a program called PlayLA, LA28 is in the process of investing up to $160 million to allow kids from all over Los Angeles to join sports leagues before the Olympics even start. By investing in zero-emissions transportation, sustainable materials, and helping more kids get involved in sports, LA2028 is making sure our city wins long after the final medal is handed out.

Planned sites for the 2028 Summer Olympics

For more info: LA Summer Olympics website