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≡ LA28 SCHEDULE RELEASE ≡
If you like to think ahead, now is the time to get out your calendar and sketch out your plans for the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles. On Monday, marking three years to go before the opening on 14 July 2028, the organizing committee released the first presentation of the sports schedules by day and by session.
There will be some changes, but the basic outline of the Games is now available. By sport (use of “dates” indicates off days in the schedule), there are 50 sports or disciplines with schedules in Los Angeles:
● Aquatics/Artistic: 5 days from 25-29 July
● Aquatics/Diving: 11 dates from 15-28 July
● Aquatics/Open Water: 2 days from 17-18 July
● Aquatics/Swimming: 9 days from 22-30 July
● Aquatics/Water Polo: 11 dates from 12-23 July
● Archery: 8 days from 21-28 July
● Athletics/T&F: 10 days from 15-24 July
● Athletics/Road: 3 dates from 27-30 July
● Badminton: 10 days from 15-24 July
● Baseball: 6 days from 15-20 July
● Basketball/3×3: 7 days from 16-22 July
● Basketball/5×5: 18 dates from 12-30 July
● Boxing/prelims: 9 days from 15-23 July
● Boxing/finals: 4 days from 27-30 July
● Canoe/Sprint: 5 days from 25-29 July
● Cricket: 16 dates from 12-29 July
● Cycling/BMX-Free: 2 days from 28-29 July
● Cycling/BMX-Race: 2 days from 15-16 July
● Cycling/Mtn. Bike: 2 days from 17-18 July
● Cycling/Road: 3 dates from 19-23 July
● Cycling/Track: 6 days from 25-30 July
● Equestrian: 13 dates from 15-29 July
● Fencing: 9 days from 15-22 July
● Flag Football: 8 days from 15-22 July
● Football/semis-finals: 5 dates from 24-29 July
● Golf: 10 dates from 19-29 July
● Gymnastics/Artistic: 10 dates from 15-25 July
● Gymnastics/Rhythmic: 3 days from 27-29 July
● Gymnastics/Trampoline: 1 day on 20 July
● Handball: 16 dates from 12-28 July
● Hockey: 17 dates from 12-29 July
● Judo: 8 days from 15-22 July
● Lacrosse: 6 days from 24-29 July
● Modern Pent.: 4 days from 15-18 July
● Rowing/Classic: 8 days from 15-22 July
● Rowing/Coastal: 2 days from 24-25 July
● Rugby Sevens: 6 dates from 12-18 July
● Sailing: 11 dates from 16-28 July
● Shooting: 11 days from 15-25 July
● Skateboard: 6 dates from 18-27 July
● Sport Climbing: 6 days from 24-29 July
● Squash: 10 days from 15-24 July
● Surfing: 4 days from 15-18 July
● Table Tennis: 15 days from 15-29 July
● Taekwondo: 4 days from 26-29 July
● Tennis: 10 days from 19-28 July
● Triathlon: 3 dates from 15-20 July
● Volleyball/beach: 14 days from 15-29 July
● Volleyball/indoor: 16 days from 15-30 July
● Weightlifting: 5 days from 25-29 July
● Wrestling: 7 days from 24-30 July
In Oklahoma City (2):
● Canoe/Slalom: 9 days from 14-22 July
● Softball: 7 days from 23-29 July
As is the norm, several team sports will start early, with baseball, cricket, football, handball, hockey and Rugby Sevens all starting on Wednesday, 12 July.
There are no dates or venues announced yet for the track & field walks or the cycling road races, and no venue yet for mountain biking. Preliminary football matches will be held outside of Los Angeles from 12-22 July.
The session schedule is broken down by venue group, a handy way to gauge what one could see within the same general area; this especially helpful for multi-venue sites such as the Los Angeles Convention Center, the Dignity Health Sports Center in Carson or the Sepulveda Basin Recreation Center in the San Fernando Valley.
Observed: The LA28 organizers made some clear choices about how the Games will flow, no doubt in consultation with NBC, as well as the International Olympic Committee and the International Federations.
The first week, usually the best for television audiences in the U.S., features track & field and artistic gymnastics, scheduled to be programmed consecutively:
● Gymnastics: the four finals days on 17-18-19-20 July are from 6 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., with the 17th starting at 5:15 p.m.
● Track & Field: the same four days have afternoon sessions starting at 4 p.m. and finishing about 6:40 p.m., so some overlap, but not much. The session on the 17th runs longer, to 7:15 p.m. Everything will be in sunshine.
Baseball is in the first week – 15-20 July – set up to replace the annual All-Star Break with a few more days thrown in. Same for Flag Football, also in the first week from 15-22 July, so whatever NFL players are involved can get back for training camp. This is not by coincidence.
The second week is now devoted to swimming and the team sports, with track & field ending on Monday (24th) and swimming overlapping, starting on the 22nd, with just one open day after the end of artistic gymnastics.
Further, the schedule also points to clear hot spots for transportation. The downtown Los Angeles and Exposition Park areas will be overloaded during the first week. Expo Park, especially, will need significant park-and-ride support (as in 1984) to handle:
● 67,000: Coliseum seating after adding the track
● 22,000: BMO Stadium capacity for flag football and lacrosse
● 16,000: Argue/LA84 Swim Stadium for diving
Now, the BMO Stadium seating could be reduced to create a more intimate setting for flag and lacrosse, but the building now has seating for 22,000 for football (soccer). The seating estimate for diving is based off of the renderings created by LA28 and could be way off. But it’s 100,000 people or so in a tight space; nothing the Coliseum has not handled before by itself, but there will be three venues running concurrently for the first week, with a lot of moving parts and next-to-no on-site parking.
Offering this much detail three years out is a good milestone for LA28 and sets up the discussions which need to be had an a fairly early stage.
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