Venues hosting events for the 2028 Los Angeles Summer Games will be the first in the history of the Olympics to have corporate sponsors.
The LA28 organizing committee and the International Olympic Committee announced an agreement Thursday on a deal that will allow sponsorship of some venues in the 2028 Olympics and Paralympics.
The first announced sponsored venues to hold Olympic events are the Honda Center in Anaheim, where volleyball will be contested, and the Comcast Squash Center at Universal Studios. The Honda Center is the home of the NHL’s Anaheim Ducks.
“From the moment we submitted our bid, LA28 committed to reimagining what’s possible for the Games,” said Casey Wasserman, the chair and president of the LA28 committee in a news release.
“Today’s historic announcement delivers on that promise, creating the first-ever venue naming rights program in Olympic and Paralympic history while advancing LA28’s mission of a fully privately funded and no-new-build Games. These groundbreaking partnerships with Comcast and Honda, along with additional partners to come, will not only generate critical revenue for LA28 but will introduce a new commercial model to benefit the entire Movement. We’re grateful to the IOC for making this transformation possible.”
Corporations, such as SoFi, will have the chance to come to an agreement with the organizing committee to keep their name on a venue during the Olympics. Up to 19 temporary venues also could have a sponsor.
The Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, which featured prominently in the 1932 and 1984 Olympics hosted in the city, reportedly is among the iconic venues that will not be offered for sponsorship. Opening ceremonies will be held at the Coliseum in 2028.
If SoFi and the committee do not come to agreement, for example, the Inglewood home of the Los Angeles Rams and Chargers would not be referred to as SoFi Stadium during the games, and existing signage would be covered or removed. That venue will host the swimming events.
The L.A. Games will have an estimated cost of $7.1 billion and be paid for without government funding, provided they stay on budget. The city of Los Angeles would be responsible for the first $270 million of cost overruns, the Los Angeles Times reported.
The IOC rules that ban advertising inside a venue will remain.
A spokesperson for the IOC said in a statement to the Times that the governing body wants “to support LA28 in their efforts to create new approaches and commercial opportunities, whilst maintaining the principles of the ‘clean venue policy’ that is unique to the Olympic Games
“It is a reality that many venues in L.A. and in the U.S. already have commercial naming rights and have become commonly recognized as such by the general public. Therefore, following discussions, the IOC is supporting the LA28 initiative that takes into account market realities of venue naming and generates critical revenue to stage the Games.”
The Los Angeles Olympics are scheduled to open on July 14, 2028.
–Field Level Media
