When Santa Clara County announced its new restriction on contact sports yesterday, I got to thinking about where the 49ers may play. It looks like they've settled on Arizona, but there were also plenty of options elsewhere in the Bay Area. In fact, the Bay Area is so flush with sports facilities that it would be the perfect host for the Olympics.
I've said this before, and I'm not the only one. I love San Francisco. I've only been there once, but I enjoyed every minute of it. That's not the reason why I think San Francisco would make the perfect Olympic host, though. It's got everything the IOC is looking for and then some. Which is why it's the American city that many IOC members would prefer. And it could very well be the next American city to bid.
Of course, that won't be for a while. We're still eight years from LA hosting, and the next North American Olympics after that will probably be in Toronto. But, once enough time has passed and everyone's ready for an Olympics in the United States again (say somewhere in the 2044-52 range), San Francisco is the easy choice.
San Francisco has bid before, but has never been the chosen American candidate. New York's bid was the one chosen for the 2012 Games, while San Francisco dropped out of the running for 2016 because it ran out of funding. Then, in the debacle that was the 2024 bid process, the USOPC chose Boston over San Francisco for some reason. That, of course, had a silver lining, though, as Boston was replaced with Los Angeles, and LA will host in 2028.
Anyway, San Francisco is the ideal Olympic city. Everything is in place for a Bay Area Olympics right now. Between San Francisco, Oakland, San Jose and all of the area colleges, they wouldn't need to build a single venue (except for maybe the Olympic Village, which could easily become affordable housing or college dorms afterwards).
As such, my venue plan includes all existing facilities. A lot will obviously change between now and whenever San Francisco might host, but there's no way to foresee what those changes might be, so my venues are all ones that are currently standing. It's a mixture of pro sports arenas and historic San Francisco landmarks and public parks, as well as the world-class venues at the many Division I colleges in the Bay Area (primarily Stanford).
Before getting into the venue selection, a few notes on some of them. The biggest of which is swimming. I was shocked to find out that there isn't a 50-meter pool in the entire Bay Area. I thought for sure Stanford had one! But, since a full-scale Aquatic Center isn't necessary, I'm taking a page out of the U.S. Olympic Trials' book. The 2012 and 2016 Swimming Trials were held in Omaha, with a pool plopped onto the arena floor. So I'm doing the same thing. In an Olympic first, swimming wouldn't be in an aquatic center. It would be in the San Jose Sharks' 18,000-seat SAP Center.
There's also no need for a custom-built Olympic Stadium. San Francisco doesn't have a stadium like the LA Coliseum, which was designed with a track. And, with the way NFL stadiums are built these days, I'm not sure they could fit a 400-meter track around the field at Levi's Stadium. However, it's expandable for major events like the Super Bowl and College Football Playoff. It's also one of the likely venues for the 2026 World Cup, so I think there's a configuration that would work. So, because of that, it's the most logical choice for Olympic Stadium.
My last note is regarding the soccer venues. All of the soccer venues for LA 2028 will be in the State of California. That makes so much sense for a lot of reasons. And really, there's no reason not to copy it. Especially with a new Sacramento team joining MLS in a new stadium. The primary soccer venue is Stanford Stadium, with the other five all located within the state (and two others in the Bay Area).
So, with that, here's my venue plan for the San Francisco Olympics (they'd be spread across the entire Bay Area, but "San Francisco" would be the designated host city). The sport program changes every Olympics and I don't want to speculate what might be added/removed for future Games (sorry, but esports are NOT sports!), so I'm going with the sports we'll see next year in Tokyo.
SAN FRANCISCO
Baker Beach: Beach Volleyball
Candlestick Point: Triathlon
Chase Center: Basketball
Crissy Field: Shooting
Golden Gate Park: 3x3 Basketball, Cycling (BMX), Skateboarding, Sport Climbing
Great Highway: Cycling (Road Finish), Track & Field (Marathon/Race Walk Finish)
Kezar Stadium: Archery
Moscone Center: (Arena 1 - Badminton, Table Tennis; Arena 2 - Judo, Taekwondo; Arena 3 - Karate, Wrestling)
Ocean Beach: Surfing
Olympic Club: Golf
Oracle Park: Baseball
San Francisco Bay: Sailing, Marathon Swimming
War Memorial Gym: Weightlifting
BERKELEY
Haas Pavilion: Handball
Memorial Stadium: Field Hockey
CONTRA COSTA
Mount Diablo State Park: Mountain Biking
EL DORADO
South Fork American River: Canoe/Kayak (Slalom)
MORAGA
University Credit Union Pavilion: Boxing
OAKLAND
Oakland Coliseum: Rugby
Oracle Arena: Gymnastics, Rhythmic Gymnastics, Trampoline
SAN JOSE
Earthquakes Stadium: Modern Pentathlon
Hellyer Park Velodrome: Cycling
Mubadala Stadium/San Jose State Tennis Center: Tennis
Provident Credit Union Events Center: Fencing
SAP Center: Swimming, Water Polo (Medal Round)
SANTA CLARA
Levi's Stadium: Track & Field
STANFORD
Arrillaga Family Rowing & Sailing Center: Canoe/Kayak, Rowing
Avery Aquatic Center: Artistic Swimming, Diving, Water Polo
Boyd & Jill Smith Family Stadium: Softball
Maples Pavilion: Volleyball
Stanford Red Barn Equestrian Center: Equestrian
Stanford Stadium: Soccer
Additional Soccer Venues: Berkeley (Edwards Stadium), Los Angeles (Banc of California Stadium), Sacramento (Railyards Stadium), San Diego (Aztec Stadium), San Jose (CEFCU Stadium)
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