LA28 Swimming Set for SoFi Stadium; Softball Heading to Oklahoma City

The 2028 Olympic Summer Games will have multiple sports organized in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, while the long-whispered reports of swimming heading to SoFi Stadium were confirmed by LA28 organizers on Friday morning, meaning that athletics will be held immediately after the Opening Ceremony with swimming in the second half of the Games, bucking long-time tradition.

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. LA28 said the venue changes will save an estimated $156 million from its operating budget, saying “these assignments are also in alignment with the IOC’s Olympic Agenda 2020+5 recommendation which emphasizes sustainability by encouraging the use of existing venues beyond the region of the Host City.”

“The Olympic and Paralympic Games represent the pinnacle of athletic competition and achievement and we’re proud to host the Los Angeles 2028 Games in some of the greatest stadiums and arenas ever built,” said LA28 Chairperson and President Casey Wasserman. “We look forward to partnering with these venues and their experienced operators and workforce, to deliver an unparalleled experience for athletes and fans in 2028.”

Swimming to SoFi Stadium

Throughout the year, leadup to the USA Swimming Olympic Trials focused on Lucas Oil Stadium being the first NFL venue to host the Trials. But when looking back through some of the comments ahead of the Trials, it also provides hints to what was announced Friday with having the event at SoFi Stadium in 2028.

USA Swimming Chief Executive Officer Tim Hinchey, when on the SportsTravel Podcast in February, hinted that the Trials would not be the last time that swimming holds major events in the U.S. in football stadiums.

“It’s great,” said Olympic swimming legend Janet Evans, who now works with LA28, in mid-April. “To us, a pool in a football stadium is pretty interesting. We can drop pools anywhere, right? (The) 2004 Trials, we dropped a pool in a parking lot in the city of Long Beach. We can do great things and we can build great temporary venues.”

LA28’s plans for Opening and Closing Ceremonies are unchanged, with parts hosted at both the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum and SoFi Stadium. World Athletics and World Aquatics have approved the plan to adjust the traditional Olympic schedule with track in the first week of the Games, followed by swimming, so SoFi Stadium can be retrofitted and have a pool installed after the Opening Ceremony.

Oklahoma City Becomes Olympic City

Devon Park, formerly known as the USA Softball Hall of Fame Complex, hosts prominent events such as the Big 12 Softball Championship and NCAA Women’s College World Series. With a capacity of 13,000, the stadium has hosted the U-18 Women’s Softball World Cup 2015 and later this year will stage the WBSC Men’s Softball World Cup Group C.

“The leadership of the City of Oklahoma City, the Greater Oklahoma City Chamber, Riversport OKC and USA Softball can confirm that their organizations have been working closely with LA28 to develop a plan to support Los Angeles’ delivery of the 2028 summer Olympics by hosting all Canoe Slalom and Women’s Softball events in Oklahoma City,” said USA Softball Chief Executive Officer Craig Cress.

The venue recently received a $27.5 million facelift with an added upper deck that increased capacity by 4,000 seats, a three-story press box as well as upgraded ticket windows and complex entrances.

“We’re thrilled with the announcement of Softball Park in Oklahoma as the venue for LA28, it’s the perfect stage for the best softball athletes in the world to realise their Olympic dream,” said WBSC President Riccardo Fraccari.

The move for canoe and kayak had been circulated throughout the international community for quite some time. The International Canoe Federation said during its 2022 Congress in Thailand that the canoe slalom competition for the 2028 Games could be moved and hinted in the summer of 2023 that it would be relocated to Riversport OKC.

Riversport OKC is scheduled to host the 2024 U.S. Olympic Trials for kayak cross and canoe slalom from April 26-28. It hosted the 2021 International Canoe Federation Super Cup and when the ICF needed a last-minute replacement host for the 2022 Canoe Sprint Super Cup and the 2022 ICF Stand Up Paddling World Cup to relocate the event out of Russia, the Oklahoma venue hosted on short notice.

“Oklahoma City has hosted many international competitions at our unique, world-class whitewater and softball venues,” Oklahoma City Mayor David Holt said. “We are confident will be an outstanding partner to LA28 in creating a dynamic environment for Olympians and fans.”

LA28 had originally proposed the canoe sprint events be held at the Long Beach Marine Stadium after first proposing Lake Perris in Riverside County. The last Summer Games held in the U.S. was Atlanta in 1996, at which the canoe slalom events were at the Ocoee Whitewater Center in Ducktown in Tennessee.

Other Changes Announced

The Sepulveda Basin Recreation Area in the San Fernando Valley will host BMX Freestyle and BMX Racing along with Skateboarding Park and Street. Archery will also be in Sepulveda Basin Recreation Area for both the Olympic and Paralympic Games. Diving will return to the same pool that hosted the Aquatics events in the 1932 Olympic Games, the 1932 Pool in Exposition Park, while Long Beach will host Artistic Swimming and Para Swimming competitions, in addition to several other sports that will be announced at a later date.

The Long Beach announcement comes less than 10 days after Long Beach City Council approved a venue-use guarantee with the Los Angeles Organizing Committee. Long Beach’s venues include the Long Beach Convention & Entertainment Center area, Marina Green and Alamitos Beach, the waterfront around the Belmont Shore beach area, and Marine Stadium. The Long Beach venues are slated to be finalized by October 2027, said City Manager Tom Modica.

Equestrian and Para Equestrian competitions, previously assigned to the Sepulveda Dam Recreation Area, will be held at an exceptional existing facility in Temecula that is the only such facility in Southern California large enough to accommodate all required disciplines in one location. Shooting and Shooting Para Sport competitions, which were also previously assigned to the Sepulveda Dam Recreation Area, will be assigned to one of two possible sport shooting clubs to be determined in Southern California.