Los Angeles 2028 aims to "generate significant revenue" by branding competition venues, a practice unprecedented in Olympic history

This is unprecedented in the history of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (OPG). The Los Angeles 2028 Organizing Committee announced on Thursday, August 14, that its competition venues will be open to naming contracts, which involve a brand or sponsoring company giving its name to an infrastructure.

Until now, the venues of the major sporting events saw this type of partnership disappear for the duration of the event. Thus, the Accor-Arena, in the ^12th arrondissement of Paris, was renamed Arena Bercy in 2024. The SoFi Stadium in the Californian megalopolis, host city of the next edition, is referred to as "2028 Stadium" in official documents.

A decision, taken with the approval of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), which was welcomed by the president of the Los Angeles 2028 organizing committee, Casey Wasserman. " These revolutionary partnerships (...) will not only generate significant revenue for LA28, but also introduce a new business practice for the benefit of the entire [Olympic] movement , " he said in a press release . It is also a way, he continued, of keeping the "promise" of an event "entirely financed by private funds."

The body announced that two contracts had already been signed: with the audiovisual giant Comcast, which will add its name to the squash venue located in the heart of the Universal film studios, owned by the group; and with Honda for the volleyball arena in Anaheim, which will already bear the name of the Japanese brand this year. The amounts of the said contracts were not disclosed.