City committee approves amended LA28 venue plan, shifting several events outside Sepulveda Basin

The Los Angeles City Council ad hoc committee on the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games approved an amended venue plan March 14, 2025, endorsing moves that shift multiple events from the originally proposed Sepulveda Basin and other sites to existing facilities including SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, Galway Downs in Temecula, temporary facilities in Long Beach and a canoe-slalom facility in Oklahoma City.

The vote approved the Chief Legislative Analyst’s amended recommendations adopting LA 28’s June 17, 2024 transmittal and a March 14, 2025 addendum. The CLA’s package lists 11 primary venue changes, which LA 28 officials say reduce the organizing committee’s budget risk by more than $150 million.

LA 28 Chief Executive Officer Reynold Hoover told the committee, “My pledge to you is simple, that I will make sure this process is transparent and seamless, and I can assure you that I will work tirelessly to help everyone involved act with urgency and precision that our timelines demand.” John Harper, chief operating officer for LA 28, outlined principles guiding the changes: fit the games to Los Angeles, maximize use of existing venues, reduce stand‑alone temporary builds and lower financial risk.

Key amendments approved in committee include: - Move Olympic swimming to SoFi Stadium (Englewood) with an estimated 40,000‑seat configuration. - Move artistic swimming and Paralympic swimming to a temporary water‑polo sports park in Long Beach, sharing facilities with water polo. - Move basketball finals and preliminaries to the Intuit Dome (basketball arena in Inglewood) and reconfigure other basketball slots accordingly. - Move equestrian disciplines (dressage, eventing, jumping and para dressage) from Sepulveda Basin to Galway Downs in Temecula. - Move canoe slalom from Sepulveda Basin to a permanent facility in Oklahoma City (identified as the Purvisville facility in LA 28 materials). - Designate archery, BMX cycling and skateboarding for the Sepulveda Basin sports park, reshaping that site into a multi‑sport festival area. - Move sitting volleyball from UCLA’s Pauley/Poly Pavilion to Long Beach Arena for Paralympic competition. - Amend football (soccer) preliminaries from BMO Field to multiple venues potentially outside California and the city; that reallocation enabled insertion of lacrosse and flag football at the Expo Park/BMO Field sports park footprint.

LA 28 said the consolidations and venue swaps increase venue sharing, improve athlete and fan experience, and raise “saleable capacity” (ticket inventory) for the City of Los Angeles by about 10% compared with the bid plan. John Harper told the committee the combined changes improve LA 28’s budget through revenue increases and cost reductions by “over $150,000,000,” and that “each one of those individual moves is at least a $10,000,000 improvement to our budget.”

Public commenters offered a mix of support and concern. Mary Benson, president of the LA Equine Advisory Committee, said the committee supports LA 28’s recommendation to move equestrian events and offered to arrange tours of Galway Downs. “I support both the IOC and LA 28’s recommendation for the change of venue,” Benson said during public comment.

Community groups and business leaders also voiced support. Chad Mender, president and CEO of the LAX Coastal Chamber of Commerce, said LA 28’s local‑hire and small business inclusion work has been “incredibly impressive.” Janet Evans, a former U.S. Olympian, and other athletes expressed excitement about bringing gymnastics and Paralympic events to central venues in Los Angeles.

Several speakers raised specific reservations. Nick Stewart Block, identified as a policy analyst, noted the CAO report said the city had requested documents from LA 28 that were not provided and urged greater transparency and a centralized public repository for documents and economic analysis. Nick Stewart Block said the city “was unable to perform a comprehensive economic impact study for what these venue changes would mean.”

Council members pressed LA 28 on risk, transparency and local economic benefits. Councilmember Price said the venue changes make sense financially and asked whether remote sites in other cities had guarantees against last‑minute withdrawal; LA 28 replied that venue guarantees are “almost finalized” and that Oklahoma City has provided a unique guarantee for its facility and associated costs. Councilmember Rodriguez stressed that Los Angeles taxpayers will bear financial liability if games costs overrun and asked when remaining venue selections would be presented: LA 28 said it must submit a final venue master plan to the IOC by April 9, 2025 and pledged to meet individually with council members before then.

Councilmember Yaroslavsky asked how training sites, media centers, hospitality houses and transportation would be addressed; LA 28 said setting competition venues is the foundation and that team planning with LA Metro and other agencies is already underway. LA 28 told the committee it would seek federal funding for transportation and is working with LA Metro and the city on contingency planning; LA 28 also said volunteer recruitment will launch with a soft opening in summer 2025 and that the organizing committee expects to need about 75,000 volunteers over the course of planning and operations.

Alex Whitehead of the Office of the Chief Legislative Analyst read the CLA’s amended recommendations into the record, which the committee then approved by roll call. The clerk recorded votes as follows: Councilmember Harris‑Dawson: Yes; Councilmember Price: Aye; Councilmember Soto‑Martinez: Yes; Councilmember Yaroslavsky: Yes; Councilmember Padilla: Yes; Councilmember Blumenfield: Aye; Councilmember Rodriguez: Aye. The matter was approved as amended.

LA 28 officials said the changes reduce the organizing committee’s financial risk, limit new permanent construction in Los Angeles and allow the games to “fit the city,” while committee members and several speakers called for more complete economic impact analysis, clearer documentation of local‑hire and contracting commitments, and timely briefings to all 15 council members before the IOC deadline.

The committee directed that LA 28 continue to coordinate with city departments, the CAO and CLA and promised monthly ad hoc committee meetings going forward. LA 28 also committed to providing audited financials and an updated operating budget in its next annual report and to meet with council members to review venues prior to the IOC deadline.

Votes at a glance - Item 2 (LA 28 amended venue plan): Approved as amended (roll call recorded as all aye by members present).