The transit-first (no, really) games

Think back, if you can, to last summer, when LA28 announced the first batch of venues for 2028. The dream of the "car-free" games was still alive. But the selections weren't necessarily lining up with the vision. I wrote the following about LA28's equestrian pick at the time, Temecula's Galway Downs:

During the 1984 games, a few equestrian events were held at a San Diego country club, but a bulk of the horse-related activity happened at the Santa Anita Racetrack. That facility would have fit nicely into Metro's transportation plan with the A line right across the street. Temecula greatly expands the 2028 footprint — it's 60 miles from the nearest potential venue, likely Honda Center in Anaheim — and it's in a transit desert. Good luck, planners of the "car-free" games! Maybe people can ride horses there.

It was clear even then — Oklahoma City??? — that LA28 wasn't necessarily picking venues for their transit accessibility. Then officials started to walk back the "car-free" promise. And earlier this month, LA28 chair Casey Wasserman seemed to abandon the concept entirely, telling IOC officials: "Our venues are designed for people, and our city is designed for people to drive their cars to events." Booooo.

But by the time LA28 announced the (mostly) finalized venue lineup this week, something had shifted. In the end, instead of relying on some secret venue-selecting analysis formula that LA Councilmember Tim McOsker still wants to see, LA28 put the events where the public transportation will already be.

Before I get into the details, these are the sports that were still without venues which LA28 announced locations for on Tuesday. All the venues have been updated at the LA28 website; you can search by place or sport.

If you combine this list with the first and second round of venue picks, nearly all the venues are clustered along existing transit corridors, including some swaps for venues that are even more transit-friendly. The Temecula location was indeed exchanged for Santa Anita. Even the shooting range in Whittier Narrows is a short hop from the J line. Admittedly, it's not a perfect "transit-first" list. The Carson connections are really not great. Dodger Stadium — like the Kroenke-Ballmer Sportsplex™ in Inglewood — has serious last-mile issues that need to be resolved. The Paralympic plan still hasn't been finalized, and accessibility around many of those venues is going to be a problem. But with so many last-minute changes — they didn't even have time to make proper renderings! — did LA28 suddenly realize that this was not only what the organizing committee actually promised us, but also that choosing transit-adjacent venues is just the right thing to do?

I have a hunch that with this much uncertainty — Trump, tariffs, the very real possibility that no one will even want to come — everyone realized we need to work with what we've got. And what have we got? The second-largest public transportation system in the country with two years of ridership growth fueled by passengers taking transit to special events. Yes, of course, we'll still need some Hollywood Bowl-style park-and-rides to move people around. Every venue needs to step up with better bike and pedestrian connections. But we can, in fact, do this.

With all that in mind, I present to you my final installment of LA28 venue plan analysis — well, pending McOsker's threatened arbitration.

Marty McFly's B line to squash

The moment the venue plan was announced, NBCLA cut to the Universal Studios lot for a campy standup in the Courthouse Square plaza. Squash — a newly added sport for 2028 — is going to be played right here where Back to the Future was filmed, a location easily reached from the Universal B line station. NBCUniversal and the IOC just inked a $3 billion deal through 2036, so I'm guessing securing this venue wasn't much of a problem. (This is why the lot can be referred to as Universal instead of a generic name, and also the reason that the Peacock Theater, named for NBCUniversal's streaming service, can use its real name instead of being listed as "Theater in Downtown" as it has been in previous venue plans.) One quibble: do not let LA28 add Courthouse Square to the city of LA's venue count, is not in the city of LA, it's unincorporated LA County.

Honestly, this announcement was pretty badass overall. But it also made me a bit sad that we don't have more "fun" standalone venues like this tucked into other classic LA locations. Also, you mean to tell me we couldn't have converted Universal's Jurassic World ride into a canoe slalom course?

Vibin' to indoor volleyball via Metrolink

If you've headed south from LA lately, you've seen some action around Anaheim's extremely rad ARTIC Station, which will someday be a key stop on California's high-speed rail network. Just across the street from the station, construction is well underway on OCVIBE, a $4 billion mixed-use development from the Samueli family, owners of the Anaheim Ducks and Honda Center. OCVIBE won't be finished until 2032 but enough elements will be ready in time for a refreshed Honda Center to host indoor volleyball in 2028. Expect a lot of action at this Orange County anchor, easily reached by a positively delightful Metrolink or Amtrak ride — and a short bus ride to Disneyland should you need something else to do.

Amtrak-adjacent surfing

Stay on that Metrolink or Amtrak train a few more stops and you'll find yourself at the San Clemente Pier station. Surfing will be a few miles down the beach at Trestles, named for the railroad bridge that takes those Metrolink and Amtrak trains over San Onofre Creek. Shuttles would be needed as it's a bit of a walk to the break from the station itself, however, it's not unheard of for Amtrak to make special stops or even stand up temporary stations for large-scale events. There's a perfect spot for the train to pause right next to the bridge. The challenge here, of course, is keeping the Surfliner right of way from falling into the Pacific Ocean. Orange County is currently taking on an emergency stabilization project — but more fixes will likely be required before 2028, especially if the coast gets walloped by winter storms.

Loving light-rail in Long Beach

After lots of drama, two of LA28's most contested sports — beach volleyball and sailing — both ended up in Long Beach, and from a purely transportation perspective, it's probably for the best. LA28 may have pulled the rug out from one of the most transit-friendly venues, Santa Monica's very E line-adjacent beach volleyball, but Alamitos Beach is just as well-served by the A line. And while sailing is simply better suited to Long Beach for many reasons, McOsker's rant arguing for San Pedro's superiority neglected to touch on a logistically obvious truth: it's much, much easier to get thousands of people to Long Beach on transit. That's 11 total sports for this sure-to-be-bustling city with a bold infrastructure plan hoping to make a splash on the world stage.

Riding to the races in Santa Anita

One thing you might not know about Metro's A line is that it's the longest light-rail line in the world. So after watching sailing in Long Beach, one might hypothetically hop a train and ride 36 stops to the Arcadia station, where all the equestrian events will be held a few blocks from the station at Santa Anita Park. Did LA28 toss out Temecula's poor transit connections in favor of Santa Anita's A-line adjacency? This all seems to have transpired very recently; the Los Angeles Times reported late last week that Temecula's Galway Downs was "surprised" to learn it was no longer in the running.

Cricket's Fairplex connection

Even further east on that A line that's getting even longer, LA28 has tacked on one more venue. Cricket will be at the Pomona Fairplex, via the brand-new La Verne/Fairplex station right across the street that will open later this year. (The Fairplex is also well-served by Metrolink.) The story of bringing Olympic cricket to LA is a whole saga in itself, but this pick was definitely a surprise. The city of LA does have a well-known cricket facility: Woodley Park in the Sepulveda Basin. But after cricket was officially approved as a sport, reports began to surface that this sport wouldn't actually be played in LA. And the potential location reportedly favored by organizers was in New York's Nassau County, which gained global attention last summer when it hosted the cricket T20 World Cup — T20 or Twenty20 is a shorter and more televised-friendly version of the game — in a huge temporary structure designed by Populous that seated about 37,000 people in repurposed Formula One grandstands. Instead of sending yet another sport out of state for no good reason, it seems that LA28 figured out how to bring that temporary cricket stadium experience to LA, and a similar purpose-built structure will be built at the Fairplex.

Torched readers will remember my visit to the Fairplex, which changed the dates of the LA County Fair from September to May due to the challenges of extreme heat. I commended the fair for shifting a megaevent to a cooler season. So I'm a bit alarmed about sticking an Olympic event right back into the danger zone in the height of summer. Same with Santa Anita, where races are regularly canceled due to high temperatures. Cooler weather does seem to be a consideration for the Venice Beach starts for the marathon, triathlon, and road cycling courses. Those routes won't be shared until much closer to 2028, but I hope this means all these races will begin and end along the coast. 🔥