With over 350 participants and visiting speakers representing the decision-makers shaping the outcomes of the LA28 Olympic & Paralympic Games, The Games Week (March 2 – 6) was a landmark event that demonstrated the centrality of civil and environmental engineering when it comes to building the systems for a global event of this scale – shaping the city long before 2028 arrives.
The week of events was spearheaded by a group of students at the Sonny Astani Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering at USC Viterbi. The panel discussions staged throughout the week highlighted how the Games can be leveraged as a launchpad for innovation – exemplified by the week-long hackathon where student teams were tasked with rapidly developing business-driven solutions specific to LA28.
The first panel of the week, “What The Games Mean to LA,” was moderated by Alan Abrahamson, associate professor of professional practice of journalism at USC and an award-winning sportswriter recognized as a leading expert on the Olympics. The discussion featured John Harper, chief operating officer of LA28; Paul Krekorian, executive director of the LA Office of Major Events; and Tracy Sykes, USC trustee and board member of the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Foundation.
The focus was on legacy: how to radically reshape the city’s infrastructure in time for 2028, while minimizing the risk of spending money on initiatives that become redundant after the Games are over?
By shifting the emphasis away from large-scale public construction and towards efficient operational systems. In other words: to innovate, you don’t need to reinvent the wheel. Or, in this case, the Olympic rings.
Here are some of the key takeaways:
A $7 billion operating constraint
That might sound like a lot, but for an event like the Olympics it’s a fairly tight budget. LA28 is a private nonprofit organization – while the federal government provides funds to boost security and public safety, the organizing committee is obliged to keep to an operating budget of $7 billion plus a $600 million contingency for absorbing uncertainty over the next two years. If the last two years are anything to go by – from wildfires to citywide protests and counter-attacks – uncertainty cannot be underestimated.
The host city agreement requires the Games to break even, at minimum. “We have to be extremely rigorous in our approach,” said Harper, referencing financial oversight and reporting obligations with the City of Los Angeles.
Krekorian explained why avoiding capital construction is central to that accountability. “What people miss is that those deficits are almost always due to unwise investments in huge physical infrastructure,” he noted. Relying primarily on existing venues, LA28 is designed to avoid that exposure.
“We are a city that, with some tweaks, could use all of our existing world-class sporting infrastructure to hold the Games,” said Krekorian.
But the advantage comes with complexity. “We will be operating venues at a scale that they have never been operated at before,” Harper responded, referring to simultaneous sessions and near-continuous venue activity.
To illustrate the scale, Harper raised a striking comparison: “If you consider the number of people we’re putting through the turnstiles, staging the Olympics compares to producing Seven Super Bowls a day for 16 days straight, then taking a 10 day break until the Paralympics: three Super Bowls a day on for 12 days straight.”
Bending the rules
Two planning decisions discussed at the panel illustrate how LA28 is reducing capital exposure by adapting existing assets rather than constructing new ones.
Olympic rowing typically meets the international federation’s 2000-meter straight-course requirement. Other cities have historically either built a facility or made use of an existing waterway – but could Los Angeles get away with rewriting the rules? Organizers worked with the federation to use Long Beach Marine Stadium – which previously hosted Olympic rowing in 1932 – despite its shorter configuration. As Harper explained, “We negotiated an arrangement that means the competition in 2028 will be 1500 meters rather than 2000, allowing us to utilize that facility.” The modification avoided the need to dredge or construct a new 2,000-meter course and keeps the competition within the Long Beach cluster of venues.
The Athletes Village presents a similar efficiency calculation. In recent Games, host cities have constructed entirely new residential districts to accommodate athletes. Los Angeles will instead house athletes on the UCLA residential campus. The panel noted that institutions operating large student housing systems already manage food service, maintenance, security and annual move-in/move-out cycles at scale. By using existing housing stock rather than constructing a purpose-built village, LA28 avoids one of the most significant capital outlays typically associated with hosting.
Moving a city already at capacity
Both decisions reflect a pattern described repeatedly during the discussion: where possible, the organizing committee is negotiating flexibility with international federations and relying on existing infrastructure rather than building temporary or permanent facilities solely for the Games.
But what about the challenge of channeling 15 million spectators and 15,000 athletes across Los Angeles – a city notorious for gridlock, sprawl, and the dominance of the car over public transport?
Transportation was described as a coordination problem layered onto an already busy system – rather than a construction problem. In response, LA28 has convened a team that includes LA28 transportation leadership alongside Metro, LADOT, Caltrans, Metrolink and SCAG. The group has been meeting since before the pandemic to build a unified transportation plan that relies on three primary tools.
First, a Games Route Network that will prioritize athlete and broadcaster mobility using existing HOV lanes and strategic traffic controls. Second, supplemental fleet capacity. Metro’s system already carries hundreds of thousands of riders daily; there is no idle reserve waiting for Olympic demand. Organizers anticipate contracting private charter bus fleets to expand capacity during peak periods. Third, traffic demand management. Remote work, staggered deliveries and modified commuting patterns are part of the strategy to reduce peak congestion.
Innovation for legacy-building
Naturally, the conversation ranged far and wide; economic impact, youth sports investment, volunteer mobilization and urban design were just a few of the many topics discussed. But a key idea served as a point of return: high-impact and sustainable innovation isn’t about producing brand new solutions. It starts with assessing and transforming what exists.
Next, we’ll be diving deeper into the implications for energy infrastructure, transportation, and the role of the media in shaping the success of LA28.
Published on March 23rd, 2026
Last updated on March 24th, 2026