Reynold Hoover doesn’t need to check a calendar to know how much time is left. Ask the retired Army general, now leading Los Angeles’ Olympic organizing effort, and he’ll rattle off the exact number of days without pausing. Last week it was 687. The opening ceremony, he’ll remind you, kicks off at 5 p.m. on July 14, 2028.
That countdown is driving nearly every decision being made right now across Southern California, where preparations for the region’s third Olympic Games are entering a critical stretch. Unlike host cities that must build stadiums from scratch, Los Angeles already has the bones of what it needs — the Coliseum, the Rose Bowl, SoFi Stadium and a deep bench of other venues scattered throughout the region. That head start is one of the reasons LA28 has long touted itself as a lower-cost, lower-risk Olympics.
But having the buildings isn’t the same as having them ready. Several marquee venues require substantial makeovers before they can host world-class competition, and the timelines are unforgiving.
Take the Coliseum. The historic track that once encircled the field was removed years ago, so organizers now plan to spend roughly $100 million constructing a temporary platform that will sit atop the field and the stadium’s first 14 rows, transforming it back into a track and field venue for the Games.
SoFi Stadium presents its own puzzle. The Inglewood venue is expected to host Olympic swimming — a natural fit given its massive seating capacity — except for one obvious problem: there’s no pool. Organizers will need to construct an above-ground aquatics facility inside the stadium bowl.
Neither project can start on just any schedule. Work at the Coliseum has to wait until USC’s football season wraps up. At SoFi — which will be rebranded “2028 Stadium” during the Games — construction on the pools can’t begin until after the Super Bowl is played there in February 2027.
That reality is forcing organizers to bank money now so they can spend it in a hurry later. Hoover said roughly 90% of all Olympic-related spending will occur in the final 18 months before the Games begin, even as revenue — driven by strong ticket sales — continues to roll in ahead of schedule.
Hoover and LA28 Chief Operating Officer John Harper discussed the state of preparations last week, fresh off a World Cup run that gave Southern California a dry run of sorts for hosting a massive global sporting event. The matches at SoFi went smoothly: crowds moved efficiently in and out of the stadium, regional transit absorbed the surge in riders, and security incidents were minimal — just two arrests, both for public intoxication.
Politics still found a way in. U.S. officials denied entry visas to Iran’s head coach and several staff members, forcing the team to relocate its training camp from Arizona to Tijuana and commute across the border for matches played in the United States. The episode generated ill will but didn’t disrupt competition.
Still, even a tournament as sprawling as the World Cup — spread across the U.S., Mexico and Canada and drawing an estimated 6.8 million traveling fans — is a fraction of the challenge posed by an Olympics. Los Angeles’ World Cup role amounted to eight matches. The Olympics bring hundreds of events over 14 days, followed almost immediately by 12 days of Paralympic competition across 23 sports, all layered on top of an intricate web of international sports federations, broadcasters and logistics.
More than 13 million visitors are projected to descend on Southern California for the Games. According to an economic analysis from the Southern California Association of Governments, the Olympics could generate up to $18 billion in economic activity statewide, with nearly $12 billion of that landing in Los Angeles County alone.
That kind of spending ripples outward — construction crews building pools and platforms, coffee shops and dry cleaners serving Olympic staff, hotels and restaurants filling up after a rough stretch marked by natural disasters, tariffs and a decline in international visitors souring on travel to the United States.
Underneath the logistics, of course, sits politics. Los Angeles’ bid for these Games dates back to 2014, under then-Mayor Eric Garcetti, long before Donald Trump returned to the White House. Much has shifted since then. The Games will now unfold near the end of Trump’s presidency, under a new California governor, and with either Mayor Karen Bass or challenger Nithya Raman overseeing city government.
Neither Bass nor Trump has hidden their mutual disdain. Their standoff has shaped much of Bass’s tenure, particularly as immigration enforcement actions have put Los Angeles police in the difficult position of balancing protection of residents with managing protests aimed at federal agents. It’s a strained relationship that Olympic organizers are working hard to sidestep.
“I learned a long time ago, as a general … the importance of relationships across the spectrum,” Hoover said. “It doesn’t matter who the mayor is or who the president is or who’s controlling the Congress.”
The federal government has already committed $1 billion toward security and is considering additional transportation funding requests. State and local agencies are contributing money and staff time to build out a transit system designed to cut down on car traffic — and perhaps prove, once and for all, that Los Angeles can move large crowds efficiently on trains and buses. Washington has also granted the Games special security designation, placing law enforcement coordination under the Secret Service’s umbrella.
It’s unlikely Bass and Trump will ever find common ground personally, but that hardly matters for the Games’ success. Whoever occupies the mayor’s office stands to benefit from the economic boost, while Trump gets a global stage to bask in during his final stretch in office. In that sense, there’s incentive enough for everyone to make it work.
For now, the clock keeps running. Hoover and Harper have essentially assembled a Fortune 500-scale operation in downtown Los Angeles, one preparing to inject billions of dollars into the regional economy to get venues, transit and infrastructure ready before the torch is lit.
As of Thursday, that’s 680 days away — and counting.
Original source: CalMatters
