From LA84 to LA28: What Los Angeles Must Preserve and Reinvent

Two Olympic Games gave Los Angeles a template. The third will be judged by what it leaves for children who were not yet born when the last one ended.

By: Richard Awni, Senior Olympic and Sports Correspondent

Family First News Desk  |  Where Sports and Education Go Hand in Hand 

The Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, central to the 1932 and 1984 Games and scheduled to make history again in 2028.

Wide view of the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, an Olympic venue in 1932, 1984 and 2028.

Los Angeles has hosted the Summer Olympic Games twice, in 1932 and 1984, and will host them a third time in July 2028. When the Opening Ceremony begins on July 14, 2028, the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum will become the first venue in history to host events at three Olympic Games.

That history is more than trivia. It is a record of how a city can host the world without being overwhelmed by it.

The 1984 Games ended with a surplus of $232.5 million. Under an agreement signed in 1978, 40 percent of it created the foundation now known as LA84, endowed with about $93 million. Since 1985, the LA84 Foundation has invested more than $225 million in Southern California, awarding grants to more than 1,100 youth sports organizations and training tens of thousands of coaches. The rest of the surplus went to the U.S. Olympic Committee and national governing bodies.

That decision, made before a single event was held, may be the most important thing Los Angeles did in 1984. It turned a two-week event into a permanent institution for children.

LA28 is built on part of the same logic. Organizers chose to use existing venues instead of building new permanent ones, and say the revised venue plan achieves more than $150 million in savings and new revenue. Competition will be spread across roughly 80 venues, from the Coliseum and Dodger Stadium to SoFi Stadium, where swimming will draw up to 38,000 spectators, the largest swimming venue in Olympic history.

So what should Los Angeles preserve in 2028?

The financial discipline. The 1984 Games proved that a major Olympics could finish in the black. Los Angeles should treat that as a standard, not a one-time achievement.

The commitment to children. The surplus became a permanent youth sports fund because leaders agreed to it in advance. The earlier a legacy is written down, the more likely it is to be kept.

The use of what already exists. Reusing great venues is good for budgets and good for neighborhoods, because the investment stays in places people already know.

And what should it reinvent?

Access.

LA84 has long argued for what it calls play equity: the idea that every child, in every neighborhood, should have a real chance to play. The question for 2028 is whether the benefits of the Games reach children who have never had a field, a court, a coach or a pool nearby.

The Games will run from July 14 to July 30, 2028. The legacy, if it is built, will last far longer. The real test of LA28 will not be the ceremony. It will be whether a child in 2038 can point to something these Games made possible.

Disclosure: Family First Foundation publishes Family First News Desk and runs youth sports and education programs in Los Angeles. Richard Awni is the Foundation’s founder.