Los Angeles, facing a billion-dollar budget deficit, has announced significant changes to the venue locations for the 2028 Olympic Games, moving several events outside the city limits and even out of state.
Basketball, initially slated for the Los Angeles Convention Center, which requires a costly billion-dollar upgrade, will now be held at the Intuit Dome in Inglewood.
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The canoe/kayak events, previously planned for the San Fernando Valley, will now take place in Oklahoma City due to the tens of millions of dollars needed to construct a specialized venue.
The sweeping moves mean that Los Angeles will miss out on valuable hotel tax revenue and other economic benefits associated with hosting these events.
However, it is clear that city officials just can't take the risk.
"The city is on the hook for $270 million should LA '28 and the city suffer a loss due to the games," Council President Marqueece Harris-Dawson said. "The debt goes to the state of California. Then, after that, it comes back to the city of L.A. We absolutely cannot afford that under any circumstance. We can't even afford half of that."
Adding to the venue changes, events initially planned for the University of Southern California (USC) will now be held at SoFi Stadium, also in Inglewood.
Equestrian events have been relocated from the Sepulveda Basin to Temecula in Riverside County, roughly 85 miles southeast of Los Angeles.
The announcement wasn't entirely about events leaving Los Angeles. The city will still host several prominent events, including gymnastics at Crypto.com Arena, as well as skateboarding and BMX in the San Fernando Valley.
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