Basketball At The 2028 Summer Olympics – Women's Tournament

The 2028 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXXIV Olympiad and commonly known as Los Angeles 2028 or LA 28, is an upcoming international multi-sport event scheduled to take place July 14–30, 2028, in the United States. Los Angeles will be the host city, with various events also scheduled to be held at other cities spread across the Greater Los Angeles area, plus two subsites in Oklahoma City.

Los Angeles had originally bid for the 2024 Summer Olympics. Following multiple withdrawals, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) approved a process to concurrently award the 2024 and 2028 Games to Los Angeles and Paris as the two remaining candidates; Paris was preferred as host for 2024, while Los Angeles agreed to host in 2028. Los Angeles was formally awarded the Games at the 131st IOC Session in Lima, Peru, on September 13, 2017. They will mark the fifth Summer Olympics, and ninth Olympics overall to be hosted by the United States; having previously hosted the Summer Olympics in 1932 and 1984, Los Angeles becomes the third three-time host city after London (1908, 1948, 2012) and Paris (1900, 1924, 2024), and the first non-European city to do so. These will be the first Summer Olympics held under the IOC presidency of Kirsty Coventry.

After debuting in 2020 as optional events, skateboarding, sport climbing, and surfing have been promoted to the Summer Olympics' core event program. The Games will feature the debut of flag football and squash as optional sports, joined by the return of baseball/softball, cricket (for the first time since 1900) and lacrosse (for the first time as a medal event since 1908). The modern pentathlon is expected to feature an updated format replacing show jumping with obstacle course racing.

Bidding process

On September 16, 2015, the International Olympic Committee announced the candidature process and the five candidate cities for the 2024 Games: Budapest, Hamburg, Los Angeles, Paris, and Rome. Budapest, Hamburg, and Rome eventually withdrew, leaving only Los Angeles and Paris. A similar situation had already occurred during the bidding for the 2022 Winter Olympics when Kraków, Lviv, Oslo, and Stockholm withdrew, resulting in a two-way decision between Beijing, China, and Almaty, Kazakhstan, with Beijing ultimately declared the winner. On April 3, 2017, at the IOC convention in Denmark, Olympic officials met with bid committees from Los Angeles and Paris to discuss the possibility of naming two winners in the competition to host the 2024 Summer Games.

After these withdrawals, the IOC Executive Board met in Lausanne, Switzerland, on June 9, 2017, to discuss the 2024 and 2028 bid processes. The IOC formally proposed electing the 2024 and 2028 host cities at the same time in 2017, a proposal that an Extraordinary IOC Session approved on July 11, 2017, in Lausanne. The IOC set up a process where the Los Angeles and Paris 2024 bid committees and the IOC held meetings in July 2017 to decide which city would host in each of the two years.

Following the decision to award the 2024 and 2028 Games simultaneously, Paris was understood to be preferred for the 2024 Games, as it would also mark the centennial of the 1924 Summer Olympics in Paris. On July 31, 2017, the IOC announced Los Angeles as the sole candidate for 2028, with $1.8 billion of additional funding from the IOC, allowing Paris to be confirmed as the host for 2024. On August 11, 2017, the Los Angeles City Council voted unanimously to approve the bid. On September 11, 2017, Los Angeles received formal approval from the IOC's evaluation commission. On September 13, 2017, Los Angeles was formally awarded the 2028 Games following an unanimous vote by the IOC. IOC president Thomas Bach praised the LA bid for using a record-breaking number of existing and temporary facilities and for relying entirely on corporate funding.

On October 16, 2017, LA 2028 received official endorsement from the state of California. On August 29, 2018, Olympic officials arrived for a two-day visit that included meetings with local organizers and a tour of the city's newest venues. At the time, LMU and ''LA Times'' polls stated that more than 88% of Angelenos were in favor of the city hosting the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games. In March 2023, a poll conducted by Suffolk University and the ''LA Times'' indicated 57% of Angelenos believed the Olympics would be good for the city, while 20% indicated they thought it would have a negative impact.

Development and preparations

Transportation

The Twenty-eight by '28 initiative is an effort by former Mayor Eric Garcetti that the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (LA Metro) complete 28 transit infrastructure projects before the start of the Games. Most of these projects and initiatives were already in the planning stages during the bid, but will receive accelerated priority, while several minor new projects were programmed with the initiative. In August 2024, Mayor Karen Bass announced that LA plans the Olympics to be car-free, also termed ' ublictransit-first' by organizers. Promoting public transit as an alternative to driving is intended to reduce congestion and travel times. In addition to physical and organizational improvement of the city's own public transit infrastructure, Bass has suggested strategies such as encouraging remote work during the event.

Infrastructure improvements are being funded by Measure R, a temporary half-cent sales tax increase, and Measure M, a continuation of Measure R's tax increase plus an additional permanent half-cent sales tax increase, both tax measures applicable to Los Angeles County.

While various infrastructure improvements were planned regardless of the outcome of the Los Angeles Olympic bid, the extension of the Metro D Line will be expedited to serve the Olympics. Three phases were created to extend the line. The first phase will extend the D Line from the Wilshire/Western station to the new Wilshire/La Cienega station. This phase will be completed by 2025. The second phase will extend the D Line to Century City by 2026, while the third and final phase will extend the line to the West Los Angeles VA Medical Center in Westwood with a completion date set for 2027. The third phase will also include a station adjoining the UCLA campus, connecting Olympic Village with venues in downtown Los Angeles. Construction began in 2014 and remains on schedule.

The Regional Connector in downtown Los Angeles was completed in 2023. The project connected the Metro E Line, which already links venues in downtown Santa Monica to venues at Exposition Park and in downtown Los Angeles, to the southern half of the former Metro L Line. This allows for direct rail service between Santa Monica and East Los Angeles. The Regional Connector also linked the Metro A Line with the northern half of the Metro L Line, connecting the Long Beach area and San Gabriel Valley via downtown. Also, the construction of the San Dimas station on the A Line extension will service Bonelli Park, home of mountain bike events.

Another example is the K Line, which opened to revenue service on October 7, 2022, after multiple delays from a planned opening in 2019. It links the Crenshaw District, Inglewood and Westchester. The K Line will also connect to a people mover being constructed since early 2018 to link Los Angeles International Airport with the LAX/Metro Transit Center, with opening anticipated in January 2026.

Bus fleet

LA28 organizers estimate Los Angeles will need an extra 2,700 buses to move spectators and athletes during events, doubling Metro's current fleet. The organizers anticipate LA Metro to meet the demand and stated they support Metro in their transportation infrastructure development plans. Metro reports it would take an estimated $700 million to $1 billion to cover the cost. Through the Vision 2028 plan, they are applying for federal grants and identifying other nationwide agencies in need of new fleet buses after the games to streamline re-sale.

Budget

In April 2019, the estimated cost of the Games was assessed as being approximately $6.88 billion, with all the money coming from the private sector. The organizers adjusted the budget for inflation after LA, which originally bid for the 2024 Games, agreed to wait four more years.

The City of Los Angeles is the lead public guarantor, committing to spend up to $250 million to cover shortfalls. In 2016, the California legislature took action so that the Governor is empowered to negotiate the next $250 million in public backup, but only after the city backup money has been used first. LA 2024 also agreed to purchase a wide range of insurance policies to cover financial relief in the event of natural disaster, terrorism, event cancellation, as well as reduced ticket sales. The Games are expected to generate as much as they cost, with $2.5 billion coming in through sponsorships and nearly $2 billion earned through ticket sales. Average ticket prices for the Games will range between $13 and $457 (in 2016 dollars).

Security

Security will be handled by the U.S. federal government with an agreement signed by the LA organizing committee and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in February 2020, but it will not be involved in the Games' funding, covering only the aforementioned security costs.

The Olympics are the second to take place in the United States since the September 11 attacks in 2001. Like the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, which took place five months after that attack, the United States Department of Homeland Security will designate the Olympics a National Special Security Event (NSSE). Due to this designation, the United States Secret Service will be in charge of security and will head a single chain of command.

On January 15, 2025, United States President-elect Donald Trump met organizers of the 2028 Olympic Games at Mar-a-Lago and pledged to help Los Angeles recover from the wildfires, and hold "the greatest games".

Venues

Like the 1984 Summer Olympics, the 2028 Summer Olympics will be hosted in a majority of venues around Greater Los Angeles. The city's bid relied on a majority of existing venues and venues that had already been under construction or were planned regardless of the Games. The majority of venues are divided into clusters known as "sports parks", situated in Downtown Los Angeles, the San Fernando Valley, Carson (at California State University, Dominguez Hills), and Long Beach. No new permanent venues are being built specifically for the Games. Like the 1984 Summer Games, the Olympic Village will be situated on the University of California, Los Angeles campus, while the University of Southern California will host the Media Village.

The Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum and the Rose Bowl will host athletics and football (soccer), respectively. Both will become the first stadiums to have ever hosted three different Olympiads. Crypto.com Arena will host gymnastics, and Intuit Dome will host basketball. BMO Stadium, which opened in 2018 as the home of Major League Soccer's Los Angeles FC, will host the flag football and lacrosse. SoFi Stadium, which opened in 2020 as the home of the NFL's Los Angeles Rams and Los Angeles Chargers, will host swimming events. Riviera Country Club will host golf. Cricket will be held at a temporary stadium at the Fairplex in Pomona, California.

The Coliseum underwent a major renovation and restoration program from 2017 to 2019. A new press box, loge boxes, and club seats were installed. Crypto.com Arena underwent renovations completed in 2024, and the NBA's Los Angeles Clippers opened a new arena in Inglewood known as Intuit Dome in August 2024; venue for basketball during the Games.

To reduce costs and use more pre-existing facilities, LA28 announced changes to its venue plans in June 2024. The temporary aquatics venue that was scheduled to be built at USC's Dedeaux Field was scrapped, in favor of holding swimming at SoFi Stadium, artistic swimming in Long Beach, and diving at the historic LA84 Foundation/John C. Argue Swim Stadium (which was built for the 1932 Games). With a planned configuration for 38,000 spectators, SoFi Stadium will be the largest swimming venue in Olympic history. Equestrian will return to Santa Anita Park once again, as Arcadia had previously hosted the event in 1984, while softball and canoe slalom were moved to existing venues in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, instead of building new venues in Los Angeles County.

File:LA Coliseum gate.jpg, Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Olympic Cauldron, used at the 1932 and 1984 Summer Olympics
File:Staples Center LA Live.jpg, Night view of Crypto.com Arena (formerly known as Staples Center)
File:Long beach3.jpg, Long Beach
File:De Neve and Dykstra Hall UCLA.jpg, UCLA student housing site of the Olympic Village
File:LAFC_East_Side_Stadium_interior.jpg, BMO Stadium

The Games

Ceremonies

On May 21, 2025, the LA28 organizing committee announced that the opening ceremony would be co-hosted by SoFi Stadium and Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, and the closing ceremony would be hosted by the Coliseum.

The concept of using both stadiums had been discussed by the Los Angeles bid committee as early as 2017; it proposed that a prologue to the opening ceremony could be held at the Coliseum (culminating with the launch of the final leg of the torch relay to Inglewood) with the rest of the protocol being simulcast from SoFi Stadium on screens, and the closing ceremony likewise beginning at SoFi Stadium and concluding at the Coliseum.

Sports

The 2028 Summer Olympics is expected to include 351 events in 36 sports, an increase of 22 events and four sports over the 2024 Summer Olympics. This will include the 28 existing "core" Olympic sports contested since 2016, and five optional sports proposed by the organizing committee: flag football (a variant of American football) and squash will make their Olympic debut, baseball/softball will return for the first time since 2020, cricket will return for the first time since 1900, and lacrosse will return for the first time as a medal event since 1908. In addition, three sports that have been contested as optional events since 2020—skateboarding, sport climbing, and surfing—were promoted to the core Olympic program beginning in 2028.

Cricket will consist of men's and women's tournaments using the Twenty20 (T20) format, with six teams each. Flag football will consist of men's and women's tournaments. On May 20, 2025, the National Football League (NFL) announced that it had reached an agreement with its team owners to potentially allow their players to compete in the men's flag football tournament, pending agreements with the league's players' union.

Lacrosse will utilize the lacrosse sixes format. There have been calls from American and Canadian officials (including then-president and prime minister Joe Biden and Justin Trudeau) to allow a special dispensation for the Haudenosaunee Nationals (formerly Iroquois Nationals) to compete in the Olympics, due to the historical significance of lacrosse to the Haudenosaunee people. World Lacrosse recognizes Haudenosaunee as a member and it has competed in world championships, but it does not have a National Olympic Committee; its players could still theoretically play for the Canada or the United States teams, but most have stated that they would only play for Haudenosaunee.

Of the 16 new disciplines proposed by existing Olympic sports, beach sprint rowing was the only one to be accepted by the IOC. It will replace the lightweight double sculls category, and consist of individual events for men and women as well as a mixed double sculls event. Modern pentathlon is expected to employ a new format which replaces show jumping with obstacle course racing.

On April 9, 2025, the IOC announced new events in multiple sports, including a 4x100m mixed relay in athletics, the addition of 50m backstroke, butterfly, and breaststroke events in swimming, and mixed team compound archery (the discipline's Olympic debut), all-round artistic gymnastics, golf, and table tennis events. In sport climbing, the combined boulder-and-lead will be replaced by separate competitions for each discipline, expanding it to six medal events. It was also announced that 3x3 basketball would be expanded to 12 teams, one additional women's weight class would be added to boxing for parity with the men's events, women's water polo would be expanded to 12 teams for parity with the men's tournament, while the women's football (soccer) tournament would expand from 12 to 16 teams—citing the growing popularity of the sport worldwide. The men's football tournament will be reduced from 16 to 12 teams, while the marathon race walk mixed relay introduced in 2024 was dropped. With these changes, the 2028 Summer Olympics will be the first to have more female than male athletes.

* Aquatics
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**
**
**
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* Baseball/softball
** (1)
** (1)
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** Basketball (2)
** 3x3 basketball (2)
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*
** Slalom (6)
** Sprint (10)
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*
** BMX freestyle (2)
** BMX racing (2)
** Mountain biking (2)
** Road (4)
** Track (12)
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** Dressage (2)
** Eventing (2)
** Jumping (2)
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*
*
*
*
*
** Artistic (15)
** Rhythmic (2)
** Trampoline (2)
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*
*
*
*
** Rowing (12)
** Coastal rowing (3)
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*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
** Volleyball (indoor) (2)
** Beach volleyball (2)
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** Freestyle (12)
** Greco-Roman (6)

New sports

Since 2020, the program of the Summer Olympics has consisted of mandatory core sports that persist between Games, and up to six optional sports proposed by the organizing committee in order to improve local interest. On December 9, 2021, the IOC executive board proposed that skateboarding, sport climbing, and surfing, which all successfully debuted as optional sports at the 2020 Summer Olympics, and returned in the same capacity in 2024, be promoted to the core program of the 2028 Summer Olympics to replace boxing, modern pentathlon, and weightlifting, which were provisionally dropped from the program pending the resolution of governance issues, with the IOC setting a deadline of 2023:
* The International Boxing Association (IBA) was suspended by the IOC in 2019 for governance, financial, and corruption issues, which resulted in boxing at the boxing at the 2020 Summer Olympics, 2020 and Boxing at the 2024 Summer Olympics, 2024 Games being overseen by an external, IOC task force. Governance concerns increased following the election of Umar Kremlev as its president in December 2020 due to his opposition to the independent appointment of judges and officials, and allegations of increasing Russian influence (including moving some of its operations to Russia, and his appointment of state-owned oil and gas company Gazprom as the organization's main sponsor in 2021). The IBA had also stifled attempts by candidates to challenge Kremlev's presidency, and lifted an IOC-recommended ban on Russian and Belarusian athletes (in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine) in October 2022. A competing governing body known as World Boxing was established in April 2023 by a consortium of national federations that had expressed concerns over the impact of the Russian invasion of Ukraine on the IBA, and the future of boxing as an Olympic event. In June 2023, the IOC executive board voted to strip the IBA of its recognition, citing a lack of progress since the original suspension.

* The International Weightlifting Federation (IWF) faced issues with Doping in sport, doping and governance, resulting in weightlifting being considered "provisional" for the 2024 Summer Olympics. In 2022, the IWF elected Mohammed Hasan Jalood as its new president, and he oversaw reforms to the organization, including agreeing to delegate its drug testing to the International Testing Agency and to participate in the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
* The Union Internationale de Pentathlon Moderne (UIPM) was seeking approval for its proposed replacement of show jumping in the modern pentathlon with obstacle course racing; the campaign to replace riding was motivated primarily by incidents during the Modern pentathlon at the 2020 Summer Olympics – Women's, women's modern pentathlon at the 2020 Summer Olympics, which saw German team coach Kim Raisner disqualified after she hit a horse that did not follow the instructions of jockey Annika Schleu. The UIPM ratified the changes in November 2022, and they are expected to officially take effect for senior competition after the 2024 Summer Olympics.

In August 2022, the LA Organizing Committee shortlisted nine proposed sports for consideration as optional events for these Olympics: baseball/softball, Breaking at the 2024 Summer Olympics, breaking (breakdance), cricket, Flag football at the Summer Olympics, flag football, Karate at the 2020 Summer Olympics, karate, kickboxing, lacrosse, Squash at the Summer Olympics, squash, and motorsport. On October 9, 2023, the Organizing Committee announced that they had officially submitted baseball/softball, cricket, flag football, lacrosse, and squash for consideration by the IOC. All five sports were approved at the 141st IOC Session in Mumbai, India. The IOC also reinstated modern pentathlon and weightlifting for the core program, citing that the sports' governing bodies had made sufficient efforts in carrying out reforms. The IOC withheld a decision on boxing due to the IBA's expulsion and insufficient reach by World Boxing; in February 2025, the IOC granted provisional recognition to World Boxing, citing its progress on reach and commitments to integrity.

On March 20, 2025, at the 144th IOC Session in Greece, the IOC voted unanimously to approve a recommendation by the IOC Executive Board to reinstate boxing, with the event being sanctioned by World Boxing.

Event scheduling

In order to facilitate use of SoFi Stadium for both the opening ceremonies and swimming, the scheduling of swimming and athletics events will be reversed. Athletics events will take place during the first week of the Games instead, during which SoFi Stadium will be reconfigured to uncover the pool in preparation for swimming competition during the second week. This will be the first time since the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City that athletics competitions will take place in the first week of the Games.

Marketing

Emblem

On September 1, 2020, the LA28 OCOG unveiled the emblem for the 2028 Summer Olympics, featuring the Character (symbol), characters "LA" and "28" in a stacked layout. The "A" in "LA" is designed to be interchangeable, with variations created in collaboration with American athletes, artists, designers, celebrities, and other figures (such as musician Billie Eilish, comedian Lilly Singh, and actress Reese Witherspoon). One variant is inspired by the "Stars in Motion" emblem of the 1984 Summer Olympics. Following the 2024 Summer Olympics closing ceremony, closing of the 2024 Games, another variation of the logo honoring Kobe Bryant was revealed on August 12, 2024. A five-time NBA champion with the Los Angeles Lakers and a two-time Olympic basketball gold medalist with the United States men's national basketball team, U.S. national team in Basketball at the 2008 Summer Olympics, 2008 and Basketball at the 2012 Summer Olympics, 2012, Bryant had advocated for Los Angeles to host the 2028 Summer Games before 2020 Calabasas helicopter crash, his death in 2020. Bryant's widow Vanessa Bryant, Vanessa designed the logo; its "A" features a snakeskin pattern in the Lakers' team colors and Bryant's "Black Mamba" insignia.

Wasserman explained that the multitude of variations was intended to "showcase our community's collective creativity and celebrate the diversity that makes us strong", as the city "defies a singular identity." Chief marketing officer Amy Gleeson stated that the emblem was designed to "foster a deeper connection with the audience who will be in their 20s and 30s when the games happen."

Corporate sponsorship

The LA2028 OCOG partnered with NBCUniversal—owner of the U.S. media rights to the Olympics—to coordinate sponsorship sales for the Games. As part of the agreement and its sponsorship with the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee (USOPC), NBCU parent company Comcast will be billed as a "Founding Partner" of LA 2028.

Broadcasting rights

In the United States, the Games will be NBC Olympic broadcasts, broadcast by NBCUniversal properties, as part of a long-term contract with the IOC through 2032. The Universal Studios Lot is planned to be the site of the International Broadcast Centre for the Games.

On January 16, 2023, the IOC renewed its European pay television and streaming rights agreements with Warner Bros. Discovery through 2032, covering 49 European territories. Unlike the previous contract where corporate precursor Discovery, Inc. was responsible for sublicensing them to broadcasters in each country, free-to-air rights packages were concurrently awarded to the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and its members, where each broadcaster would carry at least 200 hours of coverage of the 2028 Summer Olympics.

See also

*Casey Wasserman – head of the Organizing Committee

Notes

References

External links

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