Venue changes announced for LA28 Olympic Games

The Los Angeles Olympics are four years away and on Friday, officials announced proposed changes to some of the event venues. The Intuit Dome, the new home of the Los Angeles Clippers in Inglewood, will play host to basketball while SoFi Stadium will be used as an indoor swimming facility. Gymnastics will be moved to Crypto.com Arena instead of the Forum. According to LA28 officials, the use of existing venues will generate around $156 million in savings and revenue increases.

Speaking to LAist’s AirTalk, LA28 chairman Casey Wasserman said that since the 2017 venue plan was created, “lots has changed, including the home of the Rams and the Chargers, and obviously where the Clippers will start playing in this coming NBA season. And so, those two things, with some master plan changes at USC allowed us to rethink our plan.”

AEG Worldwide, Wasserman said, is investing about half a billion dollars in Crypto.com Arena to improve and modernize the building. Gymnastics will be held at The Forum to allow for more capacity.

Two competitions to be held in Oklahoma

In last week’s announcement organizers revealed that softball games and canoe slalom events will be played in Oklahoma City.

“It goes back to our original plan, which was, we are going to deliver the right games for L.A., not change L.A. to fit the games,” Wasserman said about the decision to host the games in a different state. This is not unusual, he said — at the Summer Olympic games in Paris this year, sailing events were held in Marseilles, 700 miles away from Paris.

LA28 was instrumental in adding baseball and softball to the program, he said, but Oklahoma, with its specially designed softball venue, is the “beating heart” of the sport.

“L.A. does not have a(n) Olympic-class softball stadium which means we would have built one, which is more cost and complexity,” Wasserman said.

Other venues announced

The Sepulveda Basin Recreation Area in the San Fernando Valley will play host to the BMX Freestyle and BMX Racing events along with Skateboarding Park and Street events. Archery will also take place there for both the Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Long Beach is set to play host to the artistic swimming, para swimming and other yet-to-be-announced swimming competitions. Equestrian and Para-equestrian games will move to an existing facility in Temecula.

All events taking place outside the city of Los Angeles will require city council approval.