When I started this newsletter in 2024, I knew I wanted to peg its debut to the start of the fiscal year. Megaevents have a tendency to make giddy elected officials throw their best intentions out the window, and, to me, tracking the money was the best way to track the city's priorities. So LA wouldn't get burned.
There was already so much to cover as LA enters its megaevent era: the World Cup (2026), the Super Bowl (2027), the Olympics and Paralympics (2028). But now, even those preparations — and I use the word "preparations" loosely — are being jeopardized: by the city's $1-billion budget deficit, by the layoffs of hundreds of city employees, by our inability to take LA's ongoing climate disasters seriously. And that doesn't even include the threats from an increasingly authoritarian federal government and funding losses from whatever department Elon Musk decided to take a chainsaw to this week.
Only one LA reporter has been on all these beats for over a decade. (It's me, I'm the reporter.) I've also been raising the alarm about the city's financial state — along with many other whistleblowers inside and outside of our city's government — since the very first issue of this newsletter. "Officials are delivering dire warnings about a budget unable to cover basic city services," I wrote one year ago, "while desperately seeking outside funding for games-related costs."
Now we have no plan, no money, and, potentially, no workforce to deliver those basic city services. As I told Kate Cagle on Spectrum last Friday, this is the reason I started Torched one year ago: so many city employees were coming to me concerned about juggling their everyday duties in addition to whatever might be expected of them for megaevent-hosting — because they saw no long-range vision.
I've heard this same sentiment from so many of you — and not just city workers — over the past year. And one bit of feedback I've received from Torched subscribers is that you're craving more foundational knowledge about how, exactly, we got ourselves into this situation. You want to know more about how the bidding process works, what agreements with FIFA and LA28 actually look like, why the climate mayor™ who brought the Olympics back to LA failed to adequately prepare the city for them. And while I enjoy taking on freelance stories — editors, I love writing for you, keep thinking of me! — if I can hit my goal of 250 new paid subscribers this year, I could say no to a few of those freelance jobs and write some of these explainers instead. For you.
See? Because when you become a paid subscriber, you're supporting more reporting on the topics that you want to read. Plus you get invited to the Torched subscriber party in September, hands down the best megaevent-themed newsletter party of the year.
I'm also making a few other changes in 2025 due to subscriber requests.
If you're a paid subscriber, you can now comment on any post. We'll try it out and see how it goes. You can't offend me; remember I worked at Gawker where I was basically paid to let people yell at me on the internet. But please be kind to each other.
Since August I've held monthly conversations with megaevent experts named Torched Talks; next up is LA Commons CEO Karen Mack on Friday, May 23 at noon on Zoom (add it to your calendar, I'll send an official announcement soon). My previous plan was to put these behind a paywall at the end of 2024. But so many people have let me know they've found these useful that I'm keeping all of the recordings available for anyone to view at any time. They've all been embedded in the posts of the event pages as essential public information.
🔥🔥🌱: This is a special tier just for nonprofits, who will join a special cohort with other nonprofits trying to navigate the megaevent landscape. You'll get 🔥🔥-level benefits plus you'll be invited to join group briefings with me and other nonprofit members. If you can't pony up the higher fee at this moment — just $200 a year, but I know it's bleak out there — message me to see what we can work out.
🔥🔥🚍: This new 🔥🔥+ tier comes with a four-hour LA public transportation tour for four people, led by me and curated to your needs. Maybe you want a survey of the "car-free"/"transit-first" plans for 2028 along with my expert commentary. Maybe you're transit-curious and just want someone to show you how to ride trains and buses in LA. This also makes a great gift: I do a toddler-friendly downtown tour for the auction at our former preschool and it's always a big hit. This level is $300 a year.
And finally, you can now make a one-time donation, of any amount, to Torched. (If you want to do this using another payment method, you can also message me for those details.) You won't get the perks, but you will receive my glowing appreciation.
In this moment of uncertainty, one thing I know for certain is that Torched subscribers are LA's best. The city is going to get through this because of people like you. So, thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for keeping Torched lit! 🔥
The IOC doesn't care if LA holds its games or not. And perhaps more troublingly, the city of LA will happily brush aside its own emergencies in order to stage a megaevent
After speaking with so many people this year who are working so hard to make this place actually work, I'm seeing another way to tell LA's megaevent story
"If your city has politicians telling you that the only way they're going to fix your transit system is by throwing a party for people from around the world, you go get yourself a better politician"
