LA28 wants to become a civic organization now

The International Olympic Committee conclave was held this week at the Romanos Resort in Costa Navarino, Greece, and, boy, do I have an idea for the next season of The White Lotus. This year's schedule was packed: an opening ceremony held in nearby Olympia, boxing officially added to the 2028 roster, and a new president anointed — 41-year-old Zimbabwean swimming star Kirsty Coventry, who was immediately congratulated by Vladimir Putin. The United Nations of sports also received a report from LA28 leadership on how things are going, you know, "after deadly fires devastated much of Los Angeles." It was time for LA28's newish CEO, Reynold Hoover, to shine.

The contrast between Hoover and longtime LA28 chair Casey Wasserman was on full display onstage. Wasserman, who never looks comfortable at these things, spewed word salad on recovery with few concrete details. ("We are using our platform to uplift and support our communities, to drive and accelerate the rebuilding of the affected areas, and to engage our partners to be part of the reimagination of our city." Okay, how?) But Hoover, who speaks with a relaxed, folksy cadence, was clearly brought on to deliver results. And as Hoover took the podium, he spelled out a brand-new vision for LA28: "I believe it is important for LA28 to not only be viewed as an Olympic and Paralympic organizing committee, but as a civic organization."

For Hoover, a retired Army general who had no real connection to LA before he took the job last year, the fires were a catalyst for some institutional soul-searching. "The unimaginable and tragic events in Los Angeles earlier this year provided us an opportunity to rethink and reimagine our role in the community," he said. To fulfill this new role, Hoover asked the city for an extension to file LA28's impact and sustainability proposal — required per the games agreement — that was due at the end of Q1. "This additional time will allow us to refine our plans, with the help of the IOC, and explore new and expanded ways to deliver a positive and more resilient and sustainable games."

Just one question: why didn't LA28 think of itself as a civic organization before?

Like many other civic organizations in the LA area, LA28 is a private nonprofit. The LA28 mission statement, listed on their financial filings for many years, is this: "The corporation is organized primarily to improve and enhance the quality of life of the residents of Los Angeles, California and the surrounding area through the hosting of the Games of the XXXIV Olympiad and the XVIII Paralympic Games." That certainly sounds like a civic organization to me. What, exactly, did LA28 think its relationship to Los Angeles was?

As photos of people in LA28 shirts picking up trash flashed behind him, Hoover provided some clues on what LA28 was planning to do. "I am excited to share that our team will launch the LA28 volunteer program later this year that will have an impact not just during the games," he said, "but during the next three years leading up to them, and the years after."

Volunteers who are neither housed nor paid power the Olympics and Paralympics, leading to much introspection about how these global megaevents can really only happen thanks to free and/or potentially exploitative labor. But people love giving their time for the Olympics; many Angelenos have told me their single fondest LA memory was volunteering in 1984. In recent games, this role has become overwhelmingly popular: in Paris, 45,000 teal-uniformed volunteers were selected from over 300,000 applicants. (And yes, there was a test.) LA Mayor Karen Bass has been trying to tap into this spirit as well. Last week she held a community cleanup in South LA with the intention of "building momentum to clean our city and prepare to host the world in the coming years for the World Cup and the Olympic and Paralympic Games."

But what Hoover is describing would be an endeavor of an entirely different scale with, it sounds like, entirely different goals. And if he's specifically looking to tweak LA28's sustainability commitments to the city as part of this impact, I have a pretty good idea of what form this might take. At a November presentation to LA's Neighborhood Council Sustainability Alliance, LA28's sustainability representatives talked about shifting away from purchasing offsets in order to achieve a set of nebulous carbon neutrality goals in favor of potentially establishing a local "community climate fund" instead. At that meeting, and at any meeting with LA28 sustainability representatives, all anyone asks LA28 to do is plant trees. Hey, maybe Hoover watched John Mulaney's show, too!

Of course, LA28 is also giving the city $160 million through the Play LA program that offers free or heavily subsidized lessons for kids who play Olympic and Paralympic sports at rec centers. But as I've written about before, the Play LA legacy is being undermined by an infrastructure crisis that's rendered many of LA's parks unusable. This is why a class-action lawsuit has been filed against the city on behalf of disabled youth athletes. If Hoover is talking about volunteers who would work on improving, and more importantly, maintaining those public spaces before and after the games, that's something LA28 hasn't offered up before that LA could really use — particularly as we stare down our current budget emergency. 🔥

Everything else LA28 announced at the IOC summit

• During the Q&A, concerns about the Trump administration's travel restrictions (they're adding more all the time!) did come up. Wasserman was quick to distance LA28 from all the problems being reported for next summer's World Cup: "With all due respect to FIFA, it is not the same as the World Cup, which is one of the things people talk about. We understand that, and they understand that, and we will have a fully staffed desk at state focusing just on this issue in the next months to get prepared for this. And I don't anticipate any problems from any country to come and participate." This has been Wasserman's line since Trump was elected. But note that he didn't say anything about spectators
• Hoover announced LA28's new DLTA offices in the USC Tower will have a theater, retail space, "and, for those inclined, a rooftop helicopter pad, to beat the traffic." Oh, so that's how LA28 and IOC execs plan to navigate the "car-free" games?
• Organizers said there will be 14 million tickets sold across both LA's Olympics and Paralympics (although at one point Wasserman says 15 million tickets) and "we can expect to see prices to suit all budgets"
• In a very J.D. Vance moment, outgoing IOC president Thomas Bach told Hoover to tell Wasserman to stop wearing sneakers to IOC events
• Bach also hinted that the Summer Olympics might not be held in the summer for long: "I believe that sooner or later climate change will lead us to change the international calendar"
• Please watch this corny sizzle video that declares LA "the sports capital of the world"
• Based on the coverage you'd think the only thing announced during the IOC summit was that Kendrick Lamar might be part of LA28. That's because Wasserman is Lamar's agent, and, once again, this is an example of Wasserman using the Olympics to raise the profile of his own clients, boosting his own wealth
• While Wasserman touted LA's public transit investments — "tens of billions of dollars of infrastructure in terms of transportation" — he also appeared to throw LA's "car-free" plans under the bus. "Our venues are designed for people, and our city is designed for people to drive their cars to events." EXCUSE ME. "They won't drive them in the same quantities, at the same scale they do today, but that will also be a part of our delivery, because it would be a mistake not to take advantage of the venues that are designed and the use cases they are designed for." Or just book your airtaxis now, right?