"This is really happening. The Olympics are coming to OKC," Oklahoma City Mayor David Holt declared during a Monday press conference, emphasizing the city's unique position while proudly displaying an LA28 lapel pin.
"Two sports, softball and canoe slalom, will be staged in their entirety in America's 20th largest city. No city in the United States outside of Southern California has been given a similar opportunity," Holt said.
Want to get caught up on what's happening in SoCal every weekday afternoon? Click to follow The L.A. Local wherever you get podcasts.
The decision stems from Los Angeles' projected billion-dollar budget deficit, which has impacted the city's ability to construct new Olympic venues.
As a result, LA28 organizers have turned to Oklahoma City's existing world-class facilities. "We have the only whitewater venue west of the Mississippi, and then on the softball side, we have the largest softball stadium in the world by 2.5 times," Holt explained, highlighting the city's $50 million RiverSport Rapids and its massive softball stadium.
Mike Knopp, founder of RiverSport Rapids, detailed the venue's Olympic-caliber capabilities. "It is a full-on authentic whitewater channel just like you'd see in Colorado or somewhere, except it's all artificial," Knopp said, underscoring the venue's suitability for the canoe events.
He said the facility, built in 2016, is equipped with a very sophisticated pump system that "could fill up an Olympic-sized swimming pool in 80 seconds."
Knopp revealed that LA28 had informed them of their intentions to relocate the events as far back as last summer. "I've been working with LA28 for some time. They did announce last June that it was their intention, but out of respect for the city of Los Angeles, we remained low-key about that."
The original plan was to host the canoeing and kayaking events in Los Angeles' Sepulveda Basin, but the city's financial constraints made that impossible.
Oklahoma City is now gearing up for a significant influx of tourism, with plans for nine days of competitions and 10,000 ticketed seats each day.
The shift of events to Oklahoma City adds to the LA28 competitions moving outside of Los Angeles, with equestrian events heading to Temecula, sailing to Long Beach, and basketball to Inglewood.
Follow KNX News 97.1 FM
Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | TikTok