More Swimming In a Football Stadium

With the size of the crowds at the Olympic Swimming Trials in Indianapolis, we knew it was only a matter of time before there would be another swim meet in a football stadium.  What we didn't know is that it was already in the works!  On the final weekend of Trials, they dropped the bomb, though.  LA28 made changes to its venue plan, and the swimming competition will now be held at...SoFi Stadium.

The original plan called for a temporary pool to be installed inside Dedeaux Field, USC's baseball stadium.  That venue will no longer be available, however, since USC will be doing some construction at the facility that won't be completed in time.  (They're putting that Big Ten money to use right away, aren't they?)  Of course, you could question why they're doing construction now, knowing it'll make the facility unavailable, but I doubt LA28 minded much since it allowed them to move swimming into a venue with a significantly larger seating capacity...that should be full pretty much every night!

In its football configuration, SoFi Stadium seats 70,000.  For Olympic swimming, it'll seat 38,000.  That's 18,000 per session more than they would've been able to fit at Dedeaux Field.  Over the course of nine days, that's 162,000 additional fans who'll be able to attend Olympic swimming (and that's only counting night sessions).  Plus, the athletes will benefit from a setup similar to the one used at Olympic Trials where the warmup pool will be curtained off on the other side of the venue, literally feet away from the competition pool.

This venue change resulted in an even bigger change having to be made, though.  Traditionally, swimming is held during the first week of the Games and track & field during the second week.  In LA, that'll be flipped.  Track & field will go first, then swimming in the second week.

Now, this tradition only emerged because track & field is usually held in the same stadium as the Opening Ceremony, so that gave them a few days to transition and let the track & field athletes be able to practice at the venue.  In LA, it'll be the exact opposite.  They're doing a very unique Opening Ceremony at both the LA Coliseum and SoFi, with the main portion of the ceremony being held at SoFi.  So, they'll need time to convert the venue for swimming.  (The Closing Ceremony will be the opposite, with the main portion taking place at the LA Coliseum.)

Even though track & field and swimming are switching weeks, not every track & field event will move away from the traditional schedule.  The men's and women's marathons will still be held on the final weekend as usual, and the marathon medal presentations will still be during the Closing Ceremony.  That's the one thing I was worried about with the schedule change, so I'm glad they clarified it.

Both World Athletics and World Aquatics approve of and support the new schedule, which, admittedly, will be a little weird.  They both run for nine days and overlap during the middle weekend anyway, though, so in the grand scheme of things, it's not that big of deal.  It could actually be a pretty cool one-time change.  (I'm assuming they'll revert back to the normal schedule in Brisbane 2032 when track & field and the Opening Ceremony go back to being in the same stadium.)

Swimming's not the only sport that's on the move in LA's updated venue plan.  When LA was awarded the Games in 2017, the Lakers and Clippers shared Staples Center (yes, I know that's not its name anymore, but I refuse to call it by the new one!).  Since then, things have changed, and the Clippers will open their own arena, the Intuit Dome, next season.  It would've been stupid not to use a brand-new, state-of-the-art arena, so it made complete sense that the Intuit Dome was added as a venue.

Basketball, which was originally slated for Staples Center, will be played at the Intuit Dome instead.  Which freed up the Staples Center for gymnastics (all three disciplines).  That moves one of the most popular Olympic sports, especially for American audiences, from the Forum to the heart of Downtown Los Angeles.  (I didn't see the Forum mentioned in the new venue plan, so I don't know if they're planning on using it at all anymore, but it's right near the Intuit Dome, so it would make sense as the secondary basketball venue.)

One of the cooler venue changes in the new plan involves diving.  Water polo and artistic swimming will be at the same pool in Long Beach, but the diving competition is being moved to the aquatics center by the LA Coliseum.  It was built for the 1932 Games, but wasn't used in 1984.  Ninety-six years later, it will be the site of Olympic competition again.

They didn't announce venues for the sports that have been added to the Olympic program for 2028 only by the LA organizers.  I'm assuming that'll come once all of the changes are approved.  It stands to reason that baseball will be at Dodger Stadium, though.  Especially since they did announce where the softball tournament will take place.

At the Tokyo Olympics, baseball and softball were played in the same facility--a baseball stadium with shorter fences installed and the shorter fences marked off for softball.  While that's common in Japan, it looked ridiculous!  It came off as a bit of a slap in the face to softball that they couldn't even have a sport-specific facility.  LA28 could've done the same thing, but specifically mentioned they didn't want to use Angel Stadium for softball for that very reason.  Instead, it'll be played in an actual softball stadium.  (So, if Angel Stadium isn't being used for baseball, that must mean Dodger Stadium is.)

When they announced that softball was being added for 2028, I figured they'd play at UCLA.  UCLA's softball stadium is too small for the expected crowds, however.  And, amazingly, there isn't a softball stadium anywhere in Southern California that has a large enough seating capacity.  Not in LA.  Not in Anaheim.  Not in Long Beach.  Not in San Diego.  I'm not entirely sure how that's possible, but it's the situation they're in.  Which resulted in the search for a new venue.  The one they found is in Oklahoma City.

Plenty of people weren't happy about the decision, and they made it known.  Most of the criticism was rooted in the idea that softball isn't even a permanent part of the Olympics, and now it's getting shipped 1,300 miles away.  The critics felt softball was again being short-changed and the players won't even get the full Olympic experience.

While I don't completely disagree with those points, it's actually fairly common at the Summer Olympics to have some events well outside the host city.  (In 1984, there were soccer games in Boston.)  And LA to Oklahoma City is nowhere near the distance between Paris and Tahiti, which is where next month's Olympic surfing competition will take place. 

And the softball stadium in Oklahoma City, which hosts the Women's College World Series every year, is by far the best facility for the sport in the U.S.  So, if there isn't a viable venue in Southern California (I'm still not entirely sure how that's even possible), that might've been their best option.  For that reason, I have no problem with it (although, I'd also prefer it being in the LA area). 

Softball won't be making the move to Oklahoma City alone, either.  There's a world-class slalom canoe venue in Oklahoma City (who knew?!), so they'll use that instead of building one somewhere in California that'll never be used again.  If those were the two options, having the slalom canoers travel to Oklahoma City definitely makes more sense (at the Atlanta Games, the whitewater center was in Tennessee).

Moving the swimming competition to SoFi Stadium is obviously the headliner of the venue changes.  And, just like in 1984, LA might be starting a trend in 2028.  Because if they can build a temporary swimming facility inside a football stadium and fill it with 38,000 fans, why wouldn't future Olympic hosts follow suit?  So, while it'll be an Olympic first, it almost certainly won't be an Olympic last.