
With the Paris 2024 Olympics cauldron about to be snuffed, or rather the new eco-friendly electronic model unplugged, what’s next for the Olympic Games? We only had to wait three years for this edition after Tokyo 2020 was delayed 12 months due to the COVID pandemic so it may seem like a long four-year lag until the next Games open in Los Angeles July 14, 2028.
Los Angeles was in the running against Paris to host these same 2024 Games and after the balance of the field – Budapest, Rome and Hamburg – dropped their campaigns, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) chose to award the both cities the Games in 2024 and 2028. After negotiations in 2017, LA chose to step back from ’24 and accept ’28 along with an advance revenue sharing payment of USD $180 million to help promote youth sport.
An unprecedented tripartite agreement awarded both the ’24 and ’28 Games with a single IOC Session show-of-hands vote.
Some things will be a bit different when the Summer Games return to the United States for the first time since Atlanta 1996, others will remain the same.
Of the four additional sports that were temporarily added to the program in 2024, three will return in 2028 as permanent sports. Skateboarding, sport climbing and surfing have been added to the core Olympic program by the IOC.
Breaking, the popular debut sport that has drawn a lot of attention in Paris in the final days of the Games, might have awarded its first – and last – Olympic medals ever. Ami of Japan won the b-girls finals while Phil ‘Wizard’ of Canada took b-boys gold but LA organizers opted not add the dance sport to the program in four years.
Instead LA 28 will feature five new sports including cricket, baseball/softball, flag football, squash and lacrosse.
Baseball and softball will return after taking a break in Paris where interest and facilities for the sports are scarce. It was staged at Tokyo 2020 and previously at Games between 1992 and 2008.
Squash, a racquet sport with a portable compact field of play that can be placed in iconic locations, will make its Olympics debut after several tries to be included in previous Games.
Flag football, a uniquely American sport that comes with strong support from the National Football League (NFL), will also make its first appearance at the Games.
The North American sport of Lacrosse will return to the Games for the first time as a medal event since 1908. The indigenous Haudenosaunee nation that straddles Canada and the United States is third ranked in the world and officials are considering allowing this team to compete even though it is not officially recognized by the IOC according to rules – it could be a first.
Cricket, a bat and ball sport that is not mainstream in the United States but massively popular in the most populous nation India, has been added to the program. Due to the potential of reaching over 1.4 million Indians and cashing in on a lucrative broadcast contract, the sport was likely added after persuasion from IOC Executives.
After Paris’ rain soaked opening ceremony along the Seine, LA’s opener will be returning to a stadium format at the city’s modern SoFi Stadium. Organizers have also proposed including the historic Olympic Coliseum in the ceremony as the permanent cauldron at the facility from the 1932 and 1984 Games will likely be relit in 2028.
Instead of building a new Olympic Village as Paris did in Saint Denis, athletes will stay at existing student accommodations on the UCLA campus.
Organizers will use only existing or temporary venues to hold events and they expect to turn a profit staging these privately funded Games, as LA did in 1984. Oklahoma City will be the most remote location, hosting canoe slalom at a unique and existing venue.
Following the 2028 Games the Olympics will return to Australia for the third time in 2032 for a regional South East Queensland Games centered in Brisbane. The sports program has yet to be confirmed and venues are still being decided, but the footprint is expected to be wide, using mostly existing venues shared among regional partners.
The location for the 2036 Games has yet to be elected but a host country could be named as early as next year. Among the frontrunners are India, Qatar and Saudi Arabia.