The Los Angeles City Council formally approved on Wednesday a plan to make the L.A. Memorial Coliseum the sole host of the Closing Ceremonies of the 2028 Olympic Games.
By unanimous vote the council signed off on a plan first announced in May in which the Coliseum and SoFi Stadium in Inglewood will share the Opening Ceremonies while the Closing Ceremonies will take place at the Coliseum.
The unprecedented Opening Ceremonies dual-venue plan, LA 28 chairman Casey Wasserman has said “will highlight Los Angeles’ rich sporting history and cutting-edge future.”
The Olympic Games are scheduled to open on July 14, 2028, making the Coliseum the first venue to host three Olympics. The Closing Ceremony will take place on July 30.
“For over a century, the Coliseum has been a landmark host to some of the most iconic moments in all of sports history,” Mayor Karen Bass said during the plan’s May roll out. “That story continues in 2028 as our City and our region welcomes the world for what will be the greatest Olympic and Paralympic Games.”
The Coliseum and SoFi will also be part of a break with Olympic tradition during the Games. The Olympic track and field competition will be held at the Coliseum during the Games’ first week with swimming taking place at SoFi during the Olympics’ second week. Historically the swimming competition has taken place during the Games’ first week with track and field, the Olympics’ marquee sport, covering the final week. The switch was necessary to enable the transition of SoFi from the Opening Ceremonies to a swimming venue.
The Coliseum’s Olympic and Paralympic hosting duties will also impact USC’s 2028 football schedule. The track was removed from the Coliseum prior to the 1993 football season in a move to lower seats closer to the field. Under the Coliseum’s current configuration the stadium’s floor is not large enough to hold a 400-meter track. So a platform will have to be built atop the field to support the Olympic and Paralympic track. Glasgow’s Hampden Park, Scotland’s national stadium, underwent a similar transformation in order to host the 2014 Commonwealth Games. Removal of the Hampden Park track and supporting platform took nearly four months. USC is scheduled to open it’s 2028 football schedule against Fresno State at home on September 9.
The 2028 Paralympic Games will open with an Aug. 14 Opening Ceremony at SoFi. The Paralympic Closing Ceremony is slated for Aug. 27 at the Coliseum.
