LA28 Plans for ‘No Car’ Games and More

PARIS — The success of the 2024 Olympic Summer Games in Paris has put Los Angeles in the spotlight as the LA28 organizing committee switches fully into operations mode.

At a press conference to close the Paris Games, LA28 Chairman Casey Wasserman and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass outlined some of their own ambitious plans for the Games in 2028. And among them is something that goes against the grain in Los Angeles: Bass pledged for the event to be a “no car Games.”

How exactly that can be accomplished in a city that lives and dies by the car remains to be seen. Bass outlined how she thinks it can happen, starting with a massive investment in public transportation, an equally big procurement of buses and a commitment for people to work remotely.

“The ‘no car Games’ means that you will have to take public transportation to get to all of the venues,” she said. “In order to do that, we have been building out our transportation system. That’s not going to be enough. We’re going to need over 3,000 buses that will come, we will borrow them from all around the country. And you can’t do that without cooperation on every level of government. And I’m happy to say that we certainly have that.”

Bass noted that local residents were fearful in 1984 of what the event would do for the city’s notoriously tough traffic.

“Angelenos were terrified that we were going to have terrible, terrible traffic,” she said. “And we were shocked that we didn’t. But I will tell you, in 1984, we didn’t have any of the technology that we do today. We learned in COVID that you could work remotely. What (then) Mayor (Tom) Bradley did is he staggered the workforce. I think we can do that again. Part of having a no car Olympics means getting people not to drive, but also using public transportation to get to the Games.”

Wasserman said the LA28 organization is ready to get going on implementing its own plans for the Games after being in Paris. “Our observer program has been here in full force,” he said. “It’s important for us to see and experience the Games of full scale, not just our staff, but partners in our delivery: city officials, state officials, government officials from the federal government. Hundreds of people are here to observe and learn and watch what it really takes to deliver a world-class Olympic Games at the scale it requires.”

Wasserman and Bass addressed several areas of the upcoming preparations:

Security

Wasserman noted the Games received a national special security exemption in January, three years earlier than any other sporting event has received in the United States. The plan, he said, is to take advantage of the time until 2028 to prepare, similar to the way London organizers did in the Wimbledon before their Games, treating it like they would the Olympics to prepare local residents and fans.

“We can take a Dodgers game and enact it on a Thursday night in 2027 and tell people what it’s going to be like so that we can practice, they can practice and we can learn,” he said. “Not every city has the opportunity to do that.”

Bass noted all the city and county’s lead security and public safety officials came to Paris to observe the Games.

Ticketing

Paris set a record with 8.3 million tickets sold, selling nearly all of them. Can Los Angeles top that?

Wasserman said they won’t know the total inventory until final venues are confirmed.

“We have a pretty good idea of how many tickets we have to sell, but the exact manifest of those facilities won’t be finalized until every venue is finalized and we have a couple of sports where we have a lot of flexibility of where they can be,” he said. “So, we can optimize those for both our financial responsibility and our operational responsibility to deliver the Games.”

He noted Los Angeles has the opportunity to sell “significantly” more tickets than Paris. “But Paris sold every ticket they had and they deserve a lot of credit for that.”

Authentic L.A.

Asked what aspects will make for an “authentic” Los Angeles Games, the leaders said they had different criteria. Wasserman said the city will aim to highlight itself at the Closing Ceremony. But as for 2028?

“I think we are the place in the world where culture is made and culture is started,” he said. “Whether it’s our incredible history in the film industry, the music industry. L.A. has become so much more: fashion and film and food. And all of those things and all of the star power and opportunity to showcase that to the world.”

Bass said the city will also lean into its significant ethnic diversity.

“What is authentically L. A. are Angelenos,” she said. “And Angelenos representing every part of the world. I’ll be excited when people come from Bangladesh and find out that there’s a Little Bangladesh, and a Little Ethiopia, and a Little Tehran. All around the world, there will be people coming from countries who will come and see their diaspora. And I’m hoping that that’s something that we can really build upon.”

Legacy

Wasserman said the committee has an early commitment of $160 million toward youth sports programs in the Los Angeles area. “It is the largest single investment in youth sports in the history of America in one city and that’s before we even hosted the Games,” he said. “So, we are proud of that.”

Beyond that, he noted that the U.S. has not hosted an Olympic Games since 1996, meaning there is the opportunity to inspire a new generation of sports fans.

“A lot has changed since 1996, suffice to say. And so, the opportunity to have one of the great sporting cities in the world showcase the greatest sporting event in the world and the place where the world comes to tell their stories, we think is a really powerful opportunity.”

Paralympics

Wasserman also noted that the 1984 Games included several adaptive sports as exhibitions even though the Paralympic Games weren’t tied then with the Olympic Games.

“I think our history of access and accessibility for physically impaired individuals in the United States is world class. I think L.A. is at the top of the heap in that regard and I think the opportunity to showcase these stories and to showcase these athletes is incredible,” he said.

Team USA’s Paralympic team includes 25 percent who got their physical impairment while serving in the military. “As special as the Olympics is going to be, the Paralympics will be a truly electric and a special opportunity with just as much thought, just as much energy and just as much excitement for the city of L.A. and the world.”

He also noted the youth sports initiative in place includes programming for adaptive sports. “One of our future Paralympic champions is going to come through that Play LA program that we started with the city.”

Bass said she also intends to return to Paris for the Paralympic Games as well. “I’ll be extremely honored to be here for the Closing Ceremony and really look forward to the Paralympics in Los Angeles.”

Venues

While there wasn’t much discussion about venues that will be used in Los Angeles, there’s one thing LA28 won’t be doing: Cleaning up their river like Paris did with the Seine. “It doesn’t mean we’re going to be in the L.A. River, but I think they get a lot of credit for taking chances.”