LA28 Announces New Venues for Events in Carson, Long Beach

Carson and Long Beach will reprise roles hosting events in a variety of sports as LA28 announced more venues for the 2028 Olympic Summer Games on Friday.

Carson will host track cycling at the velodrome, field hockey in the adjacent fields, rugby sevens in the stadium and tennis at Dignity Health Sports Park, although the 2028 Games are not using the existing corporate names for stadiums and arenas. Long Beach will be the site of rowing and canoe sprint at its Marine Stadium, handball at Long Beach Arena, marathon swimming and triathlon along the city’s waterfront, sailing at Belmont Shore and water polo in a temporary pool in the convention center parking lot, as well as artistic swimming, which was announced earlier.

Seven more sports were added to venues south of downtown Los Angeles. The Los Angeles Convention Center, which was used in 1984 as the main press center, will host fencing, judo, table tennis, taekwondo and wrestling. Weightlifting will be at a theater across the street. Golf will be at Riviera Country Club, which has hosted the U.S. Open and PGA Championship in the past. Badminton will be held at Galen Center on the University of Southern California campus.

“With these venue assignments, we’re very proud to bring the Games to many of our vibrant and diverse communities,” said Janet Evans, LA28 chief athlete officer and a four-time gold medalist. “The City of Los Angeles will host more Olympic sports than anywhere else and Carson and Long Beach, which hosted competitions in previous Games, will host more competitions than ever before.”

Long Beach hosted archery, fencing, sailing and volleyball at the 1984 Games. Marine Stadium hosted rowing at the 1932 Games. The Carson velodrome previously hosted track cycling at the 1984 Games.

Marine Stadium allowed for a 2,000-meter course in 1932, but construction in the area since those Games means the 2028 contest will be held on a 1,500-meter course.

‘’We are pleased to have the Marine Stadium in Long Beach venue confirmed to feature classic rowing at the heart of the Olympic Games,” said World Rowing President Jean-Christophe Rolland. “It will require some adaptation, for the athletes in the first place, but it shows our ability to adapt without changing the core nature of our sport. Long Beach will be a great location and an exciting opportunity to showcase Rowing to the rest of the world.”

Oklahoma City and Beyond

LA28 will have multiple sports organized in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, while the long-whispered reports of swimming heading to SoFi Stadium were confirmed last month. LA28 also said basketball will be moved to Intuit Arena, which opens this fall as the new home of the Los Angeles Clippers, with Crypto.com Arena in downtown to be the host for gymnastics.

Those venue assignments moved competitions outside of city boundaries, compared to its 2017 bid plan. Those changes require written consent from the city council, which is reviewing the proposal. The venue assignments announced Friday don’t move events outside of city boundaries.

Still to come are venue assignments for new sports that were added since the city’s original bid plan in 2017 including baseball, cricket, flag football and squash. The Los Angeles Olympics will be held from July 14-30, 2028, the third time the city has hosted the games.