A Marriage Made in Orange: Mission Viejo and the Dutch Olympic Team

PARIS — Events like the Olympic Games are significant boons to the host city. But lost in the story of the host city for mega sporting events is the opportunity for smaller destinations to get their own piece of the action.

This week in Paris, an unlikely partnership formed between the Netherlands Olympic Committee and the relatively small city of Mission Viejo, California, in the heart of Orange County. Under terms of the deal, the entire Dutch Olympic team will call the city of 90,000 its training home in the month before the 2028 Olympic Summer Games in Los Angeles, as well as from time to time in the years leading up to the event.

The deal, signed at the Netherlands House that is home to Dutch hospitality during the Games, was the result of years of effort to get a piece of the Olympic action, said Councilman Brian Goodell, who is a two-time Olympic gold medalist in swimming from the 1976 Games.

“We realized that for us, 2028 is perhaps the last opportunity in our lifetimes to host an Olympic Games in our community,” he said. “And so we wanted to make sure that we had a part in that. Now we have.”

Adjusting After a ‘No’

The effort in Mission Viejo started eight years ago. Located about 50 miles southeast of downtown Los Angeles, the city does have an Olympic pedigree. The city seal has an Olympic torch, a nod to the cycling races held in the city during the 1984 Games in Los Angeles. But when city leaders approached LA28, it was clear they needed another approach.

“They told us that the IOC basically wanted everything in L.A. proper this time, not spread out all over Southern California like it was in ’84,” Goodell said. “So they gave us the stiff arm. We said, ‘OK we have to do this on our own.’”

Thus started a concerted effort that involved hiring Greg Harney, a veteran of the Olympic hospitality scene as a consultant, and traveling the world to spread the message that the city was open for business. City leaders went to Brisbane, Australia, which will host of the 2032 Olympic Summer Games, for a meeting of the Oceania National Olympic Committees Conference, where Goodell said they were the only other city in the room. They followed up with a contingent at the 2023 Pan Am Games in Santiago, Chile, eventually meeting with more than 40 countries.

Eventually, the effort led them to the Dutch.

A Mix of Venues and Sports Passion

At the signing ceremony, Andre Cats, director of elite sport for the Netherlands Olympic Committee, said the city was impressed with the range of facilities in Mission Viejo, which has track-and-field venues as well as several aquatics venues.

“We have another four exciting days to go (in Paris),” he told the Mission Viejo contingent who traveled for the ceremony. “But we also like to prepare ourselves for the future. When we visited you, we saw so many colleges, track-and-field venues, fantastic accommodations, fantastic hotels. You guys are lucky that you have a fantastic infrastructure.”

But Cats noted the committee was looking for more than venues: “We were also looking for warmth, for hospitality, for passion for sports. That is what we were looking for. The little extra that we need to have that Olympic spirit in 2028. And we are very sure that we found that in your beautiful place.”

The Dutch team had a relatively easy training experience in Paris, which is hours from their own headquarters and facilities. Cats said the national Olympic committee recognizes the efforts will be more challenging picking up their team of nearly 300 athletes to train in the United States.

“We looked at your energy,” he told city officials, “but we also looked at the quality of all the facilities that you have. Mission Viejo was on top.”

Marc van Den Tweel, the secretary general of the Netherlands Olympic Committee, said the arrangement will bring some of the Dutch excitement to the region. In Paris, as at previous Olympic Games, the nation’s hospitality house has become a place to be seen, especially at night where the public can buy tickets to get into what has become one giant party.

“Every night we have more than 6,000 fans over here to come and watch the Games and to have the experience of being part of the ‘Orange Family,’” he said. “We hope to bring a lot of Dutch to California as well.”

Potential Room for More

Mission Viejo and Orange County officials are also hoping that ends up being the case.

“Orange County is a special place — it’s not L.A., it’s not San Diego,” said Anthony Brenneman, executive director of the Orange County Sports Commission, who joined the ceremony. “It’s a unique identity.  It’s true Southern California. So that is what your athletes are going to get. They’re going to get the pleasure of being around our great communities, our great weather, our great facilities and all the other things that we bring to the hospitality side.”

For Goodell and the city of Mission Viejo, they may be able to continue adding some more teams to the mix as well leading up to 2028.

“We think we have potentially room for more, maybe some of the solidarity athletes from the IOC movement,” he said. “Some of the people who don’t have good training facilities in their own country. You’ve heard the stories about the swimmers who have to swim in a hotel pool or train in the ocean. So we’re still working those angles. But to have a team like the Netherlands, it’s huge for the city.”

And it’s an example of one way a city can take advantage of major events being held nearby.

“As a marriage, it just seems to be right,” he said. “And that’s how we feel with the Dutch. It’s the right place. Our community, our council, our visitors, everyone will be so excited to have you.”