LA's Iconic Venues

Last week, they confirmed the program for the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.  Now, the venue plan has been finalized.  A lot of the venue announcements weren't a surprise.  They simply confirmed what everybody already expected.  But there were also some changes that were unexpected, some of which clearly copied what worked successfully in Paris.  They also announced where all of the additional sports will be held (with the exception of softball, which was already set for Oklahoma City).

Let's start with the least surprising venue selection.  Baseball at Dodger Stadium.  I mean, seriously, where else would it be?  Sure, it could be in Anaheim at Angel Stadium, but come on now?  As soon as it was announced that baseball would be on the 2028 Olympic program, everybody knew that they'd be playing at one of the most iconic venues in the sport.  Just like they did in 1984, when baseball was just an exhibition tournament.  It wouldn't become a medal event until 1992.

Two of the other added sports--flag football and lacrosse--will share BMO Stadium, the home of LAFC and Angel City FC.  As is typically the case when two different sports share an Olympic venue, one will take place during the first week and the other during the second week.  Which order is really the only question.  They'll be six-team tournaments, so, if the setup is anything like rugby, they'll be three- or four-day tournaments.  Whether they run the men's and women's events simultaneously or back-to-back, BMO Stadium will be a busy place for probably the entire Games.

Cricket will get a temporary venue at the LA County Fairgrounds in Pomona.  That answered my one real burning question about the venue selections since there isn't really a cricket facility anywhere in Southern California.  There doesn't really seem to be a pressing need to have one, either, so a temporary structure makes sense.  Early on, there was some talk that cricket might get moved to the East Coast so that the games could start earlier and be on in primetime in India, but that is still possible in LA and I'm glad they didn't go that route.

As for squash, its Olympic debut will at another temporary venue--and an iconic one at that!  They're setting up the court and seating in the Universal Studios lot!  That's one of the best things about squash.  You can put a court literally anywhere!  So why not put it somewhere that's been used as a backdrop for so many movies?  The Olympics will be in Hollywood after all!

In Paris, the boxing preliminaries were held at an arena on the outskirts of the city before moving to Roland Garros for the medal round after the tennis competition ended.  LA took a page out of that playbook.  The early rounds will be held at the Peacock Theater (which will be allowed to keep its corporate name during the Olympics for some reason...I guess NBC has that much influence!) before moving to Staples Center after gymnastics is done.

When boxing is finished, weightlifting will be in the Peacock Theater during the second week of the Olympics.  But, since the boxing finals will now take place at Staples Center, rhythmic gymnastics had to move and will no longer be in the same venue as artistic gymnastics and trampoline.  Instead, it'll be at USC's Galen Center after badminton is done.

Beach volleyball was originally supposed to be in Santa Monica.  That made complete sense and would've been a nice historical nod since Santa Monica is essentially the birthplace of the modern two-person game.  Except Olympic organizers weren't able to come to an agreement with the City of Santa Monica, so beach volleyball was moved to Alamitos Beach, which is literally next to the Pacific Ocean!  Just the latest breathtaking view for the Olympic beach volleyball venue!

Moving beach volleyball to Alamitos Beach creates quite a waterfront cluster in Long Beach, with the temporary beach volleyball stadium not far from where marathon swimming and the new event of coastal rowing will take place.  Long Beach will actually be one of the busiest places during the Olympics.  Sport climbing will be a temporary venue in the Long Beach Convention Center Lot, while, for the first time, a purpose-built temporary range will be set up for the target shooting events.  The shooting events are usually all together, but not this time.  The outdoor shooting competitions are set for the Shotgun Center in South El Monte.

Also in Long Beach will be rowing and flatwater canoeing at the same venue used for the 1932 Olympics (but not in 1984).  That's one of two 1932 Olympic venues that wasn't used in 1984, but will be in 2028.  The other is the LA84 Foundation Swimming Stadium, which will be the site of diving (a move that had already been announced when they moved swimming to SoFi Stadium).  The LA Coliseum and Rose Bowl are the only venues that will be used in all three LA Olympics.

And, this went without saying considering how popular the sport is and how many venues there are for it in Southern California, but surfing will actually be held in the same place as the rest of the Olympics this time!  The Trestles, which has some of the most consistent waves in the world and is a regular stop on the World Surfing League World Tour, was the selected spot.  Sailing, the other water sport that often gets shipped outside the host city, will also actually be held in Greater Los Angeles, too.  It's set for Long Beach, as well.

The triathlons were originally set for Long Beach, but will instead be in Venice.  Venice was also designated as the starting point for the cycling road races and marathons.  The course layout and finish lines will be announced later, but it seems unlikely they'll even attempt to recreate one of the most indelible images of the 1984 Games--Joan Benoit running down the Santa Monica Freeway all by herself for miles during the first Olympic women's marathon.

Equestrian won't be in Long Beach, either.  It will be held at Santa Anita Park, one of the most famous tracks in horse racing and site of the Olympic competition.  That's a bit of a surprise.  It was widely speculated that the 2028 Olympic equestrian events would be held at Galway Downs in Temecula, which has plenty of room and is capable of hosting all three disciplines.  They obviously felt comfortable enough with Santa Anita, though, and it gives them another gorgeous setting with the San Gabriel Mountains in the background.

A trend started in Atlanta that has continued in all subsequent Olympics is the use of a large convention center to host several sports.  I already mentioned Long Beach, but there are two others--one in Downtown Los Angeles and one in the San Fernando Valley.  The Los Angeles Convention Center is part of the L.A. Live complex and will host fencing, taekwondo, table tennis, judo and wrestling.  Fencing/taekwondo and judo/wrestling are common venue-sharing partners, so that'll be two of the three Olympic venues that will be created within the facility, with table tennis taking the third.

Another idea that was wisely modeled off of what they did in Paris was grouping all of the newer, "urban" sports together in the same area.  That's exactly what they'll do at the Sepulveda Basin Recreation Area in the San Fernando Valley.  Skateboarding and both BMX disciplines were already set for that cluster of venues (I'm pretty sure they use the same course for park skateboarding and BMX freestyle).  They'll now be joined by 3x3 basketball, which fits in perfectly with the theme, and modern pentathlon, which is modernizing the competition by replacing show jumping with an obstacle course race.

That's just a sampling of where the 2028 Olympic competition will take place.  A nice sampling of historic and modern venues, with plenty of LA's beautiful views as the backdrop.  And, now that the sport program and venue plans have been finalized, LA28 organizers will get working on the schedule, which we already know will look a lot different than previous Olympics.