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on October 24, 2017
Bucket List Events breaks down the 2028 Los Angeles Summer Games

Los Angeles 2028 – The Games Return to the West Coast

After a three decade wait, the Summer Games will be returning to US soil in 2028. While that seems quite a bit in the future, no city in the history of the Summer or Winter Games has been afforded so much time to prepare for the games, which is a great thing.

The staff at Bucket List Events has been researching all things about Los Angeles in 2028, and are extremely excited about the potential impact the games will have on the States.

This winning bid makes so much sense for so many reasons. Here are a few highlights we saw after looking over the winning bid:

1) The bid is privately funded!

All of the costs going into this specific Summer Games will not be on the city’s budget. Ever since the 1976 games in Montreal went $6.1 billion over budget, there has been a large concern about the cost required to put on the Summer Games. With the exception of Atlanta in 1996 (who mostly built temporary venues) every host city has encountered a financial challenge as a result of the Summer Games, almost all due to building costs. The official venues in Athens from 2004 look post-apocalyptic today. The venues in Sochi are rarely used.  The main venue in Rio was is shambles within months of the closing ceremonies. Sadly, it is the local people who are hit the hardest by these high costs as it takes away from other areas of need.

That will not be the case, as the Los Angeles bid is privately funded and extremely conservative. As stated early, the venues are almost all in place, so construction and inevitable displacement will not be an issue. Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti is on the record saying, “the world would have to melt down,” before any public dollars are needed for the Games.

2) An Athletes’ Village already exists!

2028 Los Angeles Olympic Bid

UCLA Campus

The Athletes’ Village will not need to be built from scratch, which has been the case for almost every Summer Games. After each games, the village is usually converted to apartments, which has seen mixed results in terms of cost efficiency. The winning bid for LA has the Athletes’ Village located on the beautiful UCLA campus in Westwood. The construction of the last few villages has averaged around $2 billion dollars per Games! Since the dorms and rooms already exist, the budget can be used elsewhere since the rooms are being rented from UCLA.

Now think about this facet: Since the athletes will be on a college campus, there are already food facilities in place, as well as athletic venues for athlete training. Pools, tracks, fields, food…all conveniently located in the direct vicinity of the athletes! In Rio, the track athletes had to travel a hour each way from the village to the track to train. Some athletes even paid for accommodations near the track stadium out of their own pockets just to maximize training time. This will not be the story in LA.

3) Almost all competition venues already exist!

2028 Los Angeles Olympic Bid

The Opening Ceremonies of the 1984 Summer Games in LA

When your city is the home of 11 professional teams and 2 major universities, there are so many venues (or complexes that can serve as venues) already available. Some of these can be used for sports that require a hall setting, such as judo, table tennis, or boxing.

Here are the sporting complexes that currently exist in the greater Los Angeles limits:

Future venues:

Venues that will need to be upgraded or built, as part of the bid:

  • Swimming – An open air swimming venue, located on USC’s campus, needs to be built. The school’s baseball stadium will serve as the structure foundation.
  • Track and Field – Much to our surprise, the $100 million dollar estimate to remove 14 rows and put in a track at the Coliseum is the most expensive thing needing to be built for the entire games.
  • Modernization of the Coliseum – The complex was built for the 1932 games, so basic modernization is required. However, USC will be footing most of this bill.
  • Kayak and Canoe – A complex will need to be built in the San Fernando Valley
  • Beach Volleyball – A complex will be built in Santa Monica, which is the birthplace of beach volleyball
  • Sailing and Rowing – venues will need to be built as well, most likely temporary structures

Here is an incredible thought: There are actually quality venues that will not be used. When compared to its host city predecessors, this is almost unfathomable. What an embarrassment of riches!

4) Public Transportation will be a priority!

LA is known for many things. Unfortunately, terrible traffic is one of them.

However, there is a plan in place to have the all corners of the city connected by train (including the airport) by 2028. In other cities, most recently Rio, transportation was built simply to connect the various Summer Games venues. LA will focus on connecting the city first and the Summer Games second. This may sound like a bad thing initially, but since everything already exists, we know what needs to be connected!

Here is a bit more about that LA will look like in 2028.

5) Any profits come back to the city!

As we said before, the majority of Summer Games events do not turn a profit for the host city, but this one seems different. With minimal building requirements needed, there are so many other parts of the city that will benefit.

The 1984 Summer Games in LA brought in $225 million of profits using the infrastructure that was already in place, as well as through sponsorships. There isn’t any reason this can’t be duplicated.

Closing Thoughts

The official committee for the Summer Games in LA recently stated that they do not want their lasting legacy to be incredible stadiums, but instead the growth of official Summer Games sports in the US. It goes without saying that sports such as handball, badminton, and archery – all Summer Games sports – do not grab the attention of the US masses here in 2017. However, with great exposure and the development of new opportunities from the Games, the committee hopes to generate growth across the sports spectrum that didn’t previously exist. You know, the same way that tennis courts from the 1984 Summer Games opened the opportunity for two sisters from the area to be introduced to the sport of tennis. Their names were Venus and Serena Williams.

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