The 2028 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXXIV Olympiad, and commonly known as Los Angeles 2028 or LA28, is an upcoming international multi-sport event scheduled to take place from July 14 to 30, 2028, in Los Angeles, California, United States.[2]
Los Angeles had originally bid for the 2024 Summer Olympics. However, after multiple withdrawals that left only Los Angeles and Paris in contention, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) approved a process to concurrently award the 2024 and 2028 Summer Olympics to the two remaining candidates; Paris displayed a preference for the 2024 Games, and Los Angeles agreed to host 2028. The process was ratified during the 131st IOC Session on September 13, 2017. They will mark the fifth Summer Olympics (after Atlanta 1996), and ninth Olympics overall, to be hosted by the United States. Having previously hosted the Summer Olympics in 1932 and 1984, Los Angeles will become the third three-time host city after London (1908, 1948, 2012) and Paris (1900, 1924, 2024).
After debuting in 2020 as optional events, skateboarding, sport climbing, and surfing have been promoted to the Summer Olympics’ “core” event programme. Boxing, modern pentathlon, and weightlifting had been provisionally removed due to governance issues; modern pentathlon and weightlifting were reinstated following reform efforts, with the modern pentathlon expected to employ a new format replacing show jumping with obstacle course racing. The Games will feature the debut of flag football and squash as optional events proposed by the organizing committee, joined by the return of baseball/softball, cricket (for the first time since 1900) and lacrosse (for the first time since 1908).
Bidding process[edit]
Main article: Bids for the 2024 and 2028 Summer Olympics
On September 16, 2015, the International Olympic Committee announced the candidature process and the five candidate cities for the 2024 Games: Budapest, Hamburg, Los Angeles, Paris, and Rome.[3] Budapest, Hamburg, and Rome eventually withdrew, leaving only Los Angeles and Paris.[4] A similar situation had already occurred during the bidding for the 2022 Winter Olympics when Kraków, Lviv, Oslo, and Stockholm withdrew, resulting in a two-way decision between Beijing, China, and Almaty, Kazakhstan, with Beijing ultimately declared the winner. On April 3, 2017, at the IOC convention in Denmark, Olympic officials met with bid committees from Los Angeles and Paris to discuss the possibility of naming two winners in the competition to host the 2024 Summer Games.
After these withdrawals, the IOC Executive Board met in Lausanne, Switzerland, on June 9, 2017, to discuss the 2024 and 2028 bid processes.[5] The IOC formally proposed electing the 2024 and 2028 host cities at the same time in 2017, a proposal that an Extraordinary IOC Session approved on July 11, 2017, in Lausanne. The IOC set up a process where the Los Angeles and Paris 2024 bid committees and the IOC held meetings in July 2017 to decide which city would host in each of the two years.[6]
Following the decision to award the 2024 and 2028 Games simultaneously, Paris was understood to be preferred for the 2024 Games. On July 31, 2017, the IOC announced Los Angeles as the sole candidate for 2028, with $1.8 billion of additional funding from the IOC,[7] allowing Paris to be confirmed as the host for 2024. On August 11, 2017, Los Angeles City Council voted unanimously to approve the bid.[8] On September 11, 2017, Los Angeles received formal approval from the IOC’s evaluation commission.[9] On September 13, 2017, Los Angeles was formally awarded the 2028 Games following a unanimous vote by the IOC.[10] The IOC praised the LA bid for using a record-breaking number of existing and temporary facilities and for relying entirely on corporate funding.[11][12]
On October 16, 2017, Los Angeles 2028 received official support from the state of California.[13] On August 29, 2018, Olympic officials arrived for a two-day visit that included meetings with local organizers and a tour of the city’s newest venues.[14] At the time, LMU and LA Times polls suggested that more than 88% of Angelenos were in favor of the city hosting the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games.[15] In March 2023, however, a poll conducted by Suffolk University and the LA Times indicated a decrease in approval of the Olympic Games since Los Angeles won the Olympic bid, with only 57% of Angelenos believing the Olympics will be good for the city.[16]
| City | Nation | Votes |
|---|---|---|
| Los Angeles | United States | Unanimous |
Development and preparations[edit]
Venue construction and renovations[edit]
While most host cities have between six and seven years to prepare for the Olympic Games, Los Angeles will get an additional four, giving the city eleven years. The Los Angeles bid relied on a majority of existing venues; other venues that are already under construction or were planned regardless of the Games. BMO Stadium, which opened in 2018 as the home of Major League Soccer‘s Los Angeles FC, will host football (soccer) and several events in athletics. SoFi Stadium, which opened in 2020 as the home of the NFL‘s Los Angeles Rams and Los Angeles Chargers, will host the main opening ceremony, football, and archery.
The Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum underwent a major renovation and restoration program from 2017 to 2019.[17] A new press box, loge boxes, and club seats were installed.[18] This reduced stadium capacity from 93,607 to 78,467.[19] As the athletics venue, future renovations include the re-installation of an athletics track.
The Los Angeles Clippers are building a new basketball arena in Inglewood near SoFi Stadium, called Intuit Dome, which began construction in September 2021 and is expected to be completed in 2024.[20] Team owner Steve Ballmer stated during its groundbreaking that he hoped that it could be included in the Games.[21]
Crypto.com Arena will undergo renovations which will be completed by 2024, four years prior to when the arena hosts the Olympic basketball competition.[22]
Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Olympic Cauldron, used at the 1932 Summer Olympics and 1984 Summer Olympics