Olympics

TORONTO — As Shohei Ohtani leads a wave of international baseball popularity, major league officials are working with the players’ union and LA28 officials to conclude an agreement for major league players to participate in the 2028 Los Angeles Games.

The concepts on the table include an extended Olympic break during the 2028 season, which could include an All-Star Game in San Francisco to keep baseball’s best players on the West Coast for two weeks rather than shuttling them around the country, and an Olympic baseball schedule that could start before the opening ceremony.

There is no final deal. But, for the first time over years of discussions, commissioner Rob Manfred said publicly that the owners have stopped wavering about whether to interrupt the major league season for a week so that baseball’s biggest stars can play in the Olympics.

“I am positive about it,” Manfred said Saturday at the World Series. “I think the owners have crossed the line in terms of, we’d like to do it if we can possibly make it work, but there are logistical issues that still need to be worked through.”

Manfred suggested that major leaguers participating in the Olympics might be a one-time event. Stopping the season for one week and flying players to Los Angeles, he said, would be very different than stopping the season for two weeks in 2032 and flying players to Australia.

“The chances that we’re playing in Brisbane? Difficult,” Manfred said. ‘“Way more difficult than being in L.A.”

Manfred said the World Baseball Classic would “remain our centerpiece” for international competition. With a Canadian team in the World Series, and with Ohtani as the face of the sport, ratings and merchandise sales are soaring outside the United States.

In the Olympics, Ohtani would play at Dodger Stadium.

“Shohei has just absolutely been the greatest benefit to the game you can imagine throughout the year,” Manfred said. “In the LCS, he had probably the greatest game of all time, and we are fortunate to have him here in the World Series.”

California gubernational candidate Betty Yee said that transgender female athletes should be able to compete in women’s sports and that she is open to having athletes of all gender identities compete in the same category in certain events at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.

Her comments come as California legislation becomes a central focus in the national debate on the participation of transgender athletes in sports and elucidate her stance on one of the few issues currently dividing the state’s Democrats.

During a recent appearance on “Piers Morgan Uncensored,” Yee said, “I think transgender athletes are women athletes and they should be able to compete.”

Yee, who served as California state controller from 2015 to 2023, told Morgan that transgender female athletes have gone through a physical transition and should be able to participate in women’s sports. However, she added that “there is still some discussion about whether they should compete in the same field” and that more research is needed on the physiology of transgender athletes.

Her view differs from that of Gov. Gavin Newsom, who called transgender athletes’ participation in women’s sports “deeply unfair” and warned that it was hurting Democrats at the polls during a March episode of his podcast featuring conservative activist Charlie Kirk. Newsom’s comments garnered backlash from some party members, who accused the governor of abandoning a vulnerable minority group for political gain.

When Morgan asked Yee if there should be a gender-neutral 2028 L.A. Olympics where everyone competes in the same category, she said, “I think it’s a conversation worth having.”

“If the physicality of the sexes bear true to that [gender neutrality], including with transgender people, yes, it [the Olympics] should be gender neutral,” she said. “I don’t think we know enough.”

Yee suggested that there are some sporting events where all athletes can compete on a level playing field. When asked to name one, she suggested short-distance track and field events such as the 100-meter sprint — a notion Morgan decried as “insane.”

The Olympic record time among male athletes for the 100-meter dash is 9.63 seconds, set by Usain Bolt in 2012, while the women’s Olympic record is 10.61 seconds, set by Elaine Thompson-Herah in 2021.

Yee said she was not a sports expert but emphasized her overall stance that all athletes, including transgender athletes, should have an equal opportunity to participate.

“I think there’s a lot of information we need to learn about what’s really happening with the ability of trans athletes to compete, but my statement is about being able to be sure that they can compete,” she said.

Republican gubernatorial candidate Steve Hilton appeared on Morgan’s show after Yee and called her comments jaw dropping.

“I think we may just have seen another California Democrat candidate torpedo their campaign for governor,” he said, referencing the criticism former Rep. Katie Porter has received over recordings of combative and rude comments to a journalist and a staff member.

Hilton said that as governor he would overturn AB 1266. This law took effect in 2014 and requires that California schools allow students to participate in sporting activities consistent with their gender identities, regardless of the gender listed on their record.

“This is obviously discrimination against girls,” said Hilton. “I’m confident that, as governor, I can actually overturn that law and bring some sanity back to this whole situation.”

In July, the Trump administration sued California for allowing transgender athletes to compete on school sports teams that match their gender identity, alleging that this violates a federal law that prohibits gender-based discrimination in schools by allowing biological males to compete against biological females.

This week, Newsom signed Assembly Bill 749, which creates a commission to examine whether a new state board or department is needed to improve access to youth sports regardless of race, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, income or geographic location.

The bill was decried by some Republican legislators as an attempt to create a body that will advocate for the participation of transgender athletes in women’s sports.

A global truce for the duration of February’s 2026 Winter Olympics in Milano Cortina will be sought by hosts Italy.

Italy will submit a proposal for a worldwide ceasefire to the United Nations before next year’s Milano Cortina Winter Olympics, Minister of Foreign Affairs Antonio Tajani said.

As a concept, a global truce during the Olympics dates to the ancient games in Greece, where warring factions agreed to put down their arms for the duration of the event, so that athletes could safely travel to and from ancient Olympia.

Calls by Olympics organisers and the UN for global ceasefires have not been heeded on the occasion of modern-era Games since 1896, including the 2024 Paris Olympics. The Milano Cortina Games open on February 6 and run to February 22.

“In view of the Milano Cortina Olympics, we are presenting a proposal for an Olympic truce for all wars, including Ukraine and the Middle East, to the United Nations,” Tajani said on Tuesday.

“We must be champions of peace,” he said on the sidelines of an international conference in Rome. “We support the US plan (to end the war in Gaza), and, as Pope Leo has said, we must never give up hoping for peace.”

The 20-point plan presented by United States President Donald Trump, on which Israel and Hamas began indirect talks on Monday, is seen as the most promising initiative to end a war that has killed more than 67,000 Palestinians since October 7, 2023. The Hamas-led attack on Israel that day killed 1,200 people.

Tuesday marked the second anniversary of the war on Gaza.

In response to Gaza’s devastation and humanitarian disaster wrought by Israel’s military campaign, a number of major Western countries, though not Italy, have formally recognised Palestinian statehood, endorsing longstanding Palestinian aspirations to an independent homeland on Israeli-occupied land.

In Ukraine, the pro-Western government has been battling a Russian invasion for more than three and a half years, in Europe’s biggest armed conflict since World War II and one that has killed hundreds of thousands of people.

When my father was crossing the U.S.-Mexico border like an undocumented Road Runner back in the 1970s, la migra caught him more than a few times.

They chased him and his friends through factories in Los Angeles and across the hills that separate Tijuana and San Diego. He was tackled and handcuffed and hauled off in cars, trucks and vans. Sometimes, Papi and his pals were dropped off at the border checkpoint in San Ysidro and ordered to walk back into Mexico. Other times, he was packed into grimy cells with other men.

But there was no anger or terror in his voice when I asked him recently how la migra treated him whenever they’d catch him.

“Like humans,” he said. “They had a job to do, and they knew why we mojados were coming here, so they knew they would see us again. So why make it difficult for both of us?”

His most vivid memory was the time a guard in El Centro gave him extra food because he thought my dad was a bit too skinny.

There’s never a pretty way to deport someone. But there’s always a less indecent, a less callous, a less ugly way.

The Trump presidency has amply proven he has no interest in skirting meanness and cruelty.

“The way they treat immigrants now is a disgrace,” Papi said. “Like animals. It’s sad. It’s ugly. It needs to stop.”

I talked to him a few days after a gunman fired on a Dallas ICE facility, killing a detainee and striking two others before killing himself. One of the other wounded detainees, an immigrant from Mexico, died days later. Instead of expressing sympathy for the deceased, the Trump administration initially offered one giant shrug. What passed for empathy was Vice President JD Vance telling reporters, “Look, just because we don’t support illegal aliens, we don’t want them to be executed by violent assassins engaged in political violence” while blaming the attack on Democrats.

It was up to Homeland Security secretary Kristi Noem to try and show that the federal government has a heart. Her statement on the Dallas attack offered “prayers” to the victims and their families but quickly pivoted to what she felt was the real tragedy.

How ungrateful critics are of la migra.

“For months, we’ve been warning politicians and the media to tone down their rhetoric about ICE law enforcement before someone was killed,” Noem said. “This shooting must serve as a wake-up call to the far-left that their rhetoric about ICE has consequences…The violence and dehumanization of these men and women who are simply enforcing the law must stop.”

You might have been forgiven for not realizing from such a statement that the three people punctured by a gunman’s bullets were immigrants.

This administration is never going to roll out the welcome mat for illegal immigrants. But the least they can do it deal with them as if … well, as if they are human.

Under Noem’s leadership, DHS’ social media campaign has instead produced videos that call undocumented immigrants “the worst of the worst” and depict immigration agents as heroes called by God to confront invading hordes. A recent one even used the theme song to the cartoon version of the Pokémon trading card game — tagline “Gotta catch them all” — to imply going after the mango guy and tamale lady is no different than capturing fictional monsters.

That’s one step away from “The Eternal Jew,” the infamous Nazi propaganda movie that compared Jews to rats and argued they needed to be eradicated.

U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem speaks during a tour of the Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT) as prisoners stand, looking out from a cell, in Tecoluca, El Salvador, in March.

(Alex Brandon/Pool/AFP via Getty Images)

Noem is correct when she said that words have consequences — but the “violence and dehumanization” she decries against ICE workers is nothing compared to the cascade of hate spewing from Trump and his goons against immigrants. That rot in the top has infested all parts of American government, leading to officials trying to outdo themselves over who can show the most fealty to Trump by being nastiest to people.

If there were a Cruelty Olympics, Trump’s sycophants would all be elbowing each other for the gold.

Politicians in red states propose repulsive names for their immigration detention facility — “Alligator Alcatraz” in Florida, for instance, or “Speedway Slammer” in Indiana. U.S. Atty. Bill Essayli, Trump’s top prosecutor in Southern California, has trumpeted the arrests of activists he claimed attacked federal agents even as video uploaded by civilians offers a different story. In a recent case, a federal jury acquitted Brayan Ramos-Brito of misdemeanor assault charges after evidence shown in court contradicted what Border Patrol agents had reported to justify his prosecution.

La migra regularly harass U.S. citizens even after they’ve offered proof of residency and have ignored court-ordered restraining orders banning them from targeting people because of their ethnicity. Border Patrol sector chief Gregory Bovino continually squanders taxpayer dollars on photo ops, like the Border Patrol’s July occupation of a nearly empty MacArthur Park or a recent deployment of boats on the Chicago River complete with agents bearing rifles as if they were safari hunters cruising the Congo.

Our nation’s deportation Leviathan is so imperious that an ICE agent, face contorted with anger, outside a New York immigration court recently shoved an Ecuadorian woman pleading for her husband down to the ground, stood over her and wagged his finger in front of her bawling children even as cameras recorded the terrible scene. The move was so egregious that Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughin quickly put out a statement claiming the incident was “unacceptable and beneath the men and women of ICE.”

The act was so outrageous and it was all caught on camera, so what choice did she have? Nevertheless, CBS News reported that the agent is back on duty.

Noem and her crew are so high on their holy war that they don’t realize they’re their own worst enemy. La migra didn’t face the same public acrimony during Barack Obama’s first term, when deportation rates were so high immigration activists dubbed him the “deporter-in-chief.” They didn’t need local law enforcement to fend off angry crowds every time they conducted a raid in Trump’s first term.

The difference now is that cruelty seems like an absolute mandate, so forgive those of us who aren’t throwing roses at ICE when they march into our neighborhoods and haul off our loved ones. And it seems more folks are souring on Trump’s deportation plans. A June Gallup poll found that 79% of Americans said immigration was “a good thing” — a 15% increase since last year and the highest mark recorded by Gallup since it started asking the question in 2001. Meanwhile, a Washington Post/Ipsos September poll showed 44% of adults surveyed approved of Trump’s performance on immigration — a six-point drop since February.

I asked my dad how he thought the government should treat deportees. Our family has personally known Border Patrol agents.

“Well, most of them shouldn’t be deported in the first place,” he said. “If they want to work or already have families here, let them stay but say they need to behave well or they have to leave.”

That’s probably not going to happen, so what should the government do?

“Don’t yell at people,” my dad said. “Talk with patience. Feed immigrants well, give them clean clothes and give them privacy when they have to use the bathroom. Say, ‘sorry we have to do all this, but it’s what Trump wants.’

“And then they should apologize,” Papi concluded. “ They should tell everyone, ’We’re sorry we’ve been so mean. We can do better.’”

Well, that ain’t happening, dad.

Athletes will undergo checks to prove they do not actively support the war in Ukraine or have links with the army.

Russians will compete as neutral independent athletes without a national flag or anthem at the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Games, the International Olympic Committee has said, maintaining the same sanctions as the Paris Summer Games last year.

The IOC suspended the Russian Olympic Committee in October 2023 for recognising regional Olympic councils for Russian-occupied regions of Ukraine – Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhia – following Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, saying the move had violated the Olympic Charter.

“We also spoke about the Independent Neutral Athletes (AINs). This will be nothing new,” IOC President Kirsty Coventry told a news conference. “The executive board will take the exact same approach that was done in Paris (2024 Olympics). Nothing has changed.”

Russian and Belarusian athletes who reach qualifying times will be first vetted for any links to the Russian military or support of the war in Ukraine, both of which will exclude them.

Russian teams are banned from the Games. Belarus has acted as a staging ground for the invasion of Ukraine.

A small number of individual Russian and Belarusian athletes were allowed to take part as AINs in the Paris 2024 Summer Olympics after first passing rigorous vetting by the IOC.

They competed without the Russian or Belarusian flag and anthem. Instead, they took part as neutral athletes.

Four Russian figure skaters in men’s and women’s singles were recently approved by the International Skating Union to try to qualify for the Games, which start on February 6, 2026 in Italy, as neutral athletes.

When it comes to making travel plans for the 2028 Los Angeles Summer Olympics, you may still be crouched at the starting blocks. But the race for flights, hotel reservations and event tickets will begin in 2026, long before the Games commence.

The Los Angeles Times is your guide to the 2028 Olympics and Paralympics. Follow us for expert coverage of every aspect of the LA28 Games.

If you’re planning to visit Southern California for LA28, preparation will be crucial. And a little positive thinking wouldn’t hurt. As Winnipeg-based sports tour operator Dave Guenther of Roadtrips says, the Olympic cycle often feels like “two or three years of cynicism followed by two weeks of unbridled joy.”

As the days tick down to the L.A. Olympics (July 14-30, 2028) and Paralympics (Aug. 15-27, 2008), we’ll be answering the most important travel questions. We’ll be adding updates as new information comes in, so be sure to bookmark this guide.

Getting tickets to the Games

The Coliseum during the opening ceremonies for the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles.

(Los Angeles Times)

When will tickets for the Olympic Games go on sale?

Beginning in January, fans can register to enter the lottery for Olympic tickets at the organizing committee’s website, la28.org. If selected in the random draw, organizers say, fans will receive a purchase time and date for when ticket drops begin in spring 2026. Organizers say those in communities near Games venues will get early access. See a broader outline of LA28’s ticket schedule here.

Also in early 2026, LA28 will start offering hospitality packages that combine event tickets with overnight accommodations, transportation and/or special events. Tickets for the Paralympic Games will go on sale in 2027.

More details are expected later this year. Anyone interested can sign up to receive announcements through the LA28 newsletter.

What will tickets cost?

Organizers say Olympic and Paralympic competition tickets will start at $28, about $2 more than they did in Paris in 2024. We don’t know the high end yet. If Paris is a fair guide, most-coveted seats for the most popular events could be as high as $800 or more. The official vendors are also expected to manage a channel for resales of tickets, as they did in Paris.

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The two most costly events are likely to be the opening and closing ceremonies. In Paris, per-ticket prices reached more than $2,900 for the opening, and more than $1,700 for the closing. In Los Angeles — for the first time — the opening ceremonies will be split between two venues, the L.A. Coliseum and SoFi Stadium in Inglewood.

Some of the toughest tickets, Guenther said, are gymnastics, swimming, track and field, and beach volleyball. “If you are super keen on seeing the women’s gymnastics finals, you might be on a path to disappointment,” Guenther said. “But if you’re flexible, there are a lot of things that are going to be options.”

The finish of the 400-meter hurdles at the 1932 Summer Games in Los Angeles.

(Associated Press)

Can I volunteer at the Games?

You can try. Recent Summer Olympics have relied upon tens of thousands of volunteers, who must meet language and training requirements. (Not every aspiring volunteer in Paris got assigned.) To stay in touch with volunteer opportunities, sign up for the LA28 newsletter.

Where will the Games happen?

The 2028 festivities will include 36 Olympic sports and 23 Paralympic sports, spread over about 40 venues. The lion’s share of Olympic events will take place in downtown L.A. and Exposition Park (which together have 10 venues); Long Beach (seven venues); Carson; Inglewood; the San Fernando and San Gabriel valleys.

But events are also scheduled in San Clemente, Venice, Anaheim, Pacific Palisades, Pomona and the City of Industry. The Paralympics will use many of the same venues. Indeed, this could be a learning experience for out-of-towners who don’t realize just how broadly Greater Los Angeles sprawls.

The softball and canoe slalom events will be held in Oklahoma City.

Flights, hotels and Airbnbs

The $300-million Kali Hotel across from SoFi Stadium is expected to be completed before the 2028 L.A. Games.

(William Liang / For The Times)

How far ahead can I book flights?

Most airlines usually start accepting bookings 330 days (or 11 months) before the flight date. At Southwest Airlines, lead time can be eight to 10 months.

How far ahead can I book a hotel?

Ordinarily, hotels start accepting bookings 365 days ahead, so if you’re just looking for a room (and not a ticket-and-hotel package), set a reminder for around July 2027. Many hotels in Greater Los Angeles — especially those unaffiliated with global brands — are likely to follow their usual timetables. If you’re interested in a hotel-ticket combo deal, those will be offered in early 2026, as previously mentioned.

Industry veterans say most major hotels around Los Angeles have probably already made deals allotting blocks of 2028 rooms to organizers of the Games or independent tour operators like Roadtrips. For example, the Queen Mary in Long Beach already has 300 rooms and suites under contract with LA28, according to managing director Steve Caloca.

Another opportunity may arise even later: Typically, organizers and tour operators often return unsold room-nights to hotel control 60 or 90 days ahead of the event, which may give consumers a chance to book those “leftovers” directly, perhaps at a lower cost.

What will hotel rooms cost?

Nothing boosts hotel prices like the Olympics, and experts say the most luxurious hotels tend to hike their prices the most. Analyzing figures from Paris, hotel industry consultants CoStar found that average hotel rates — $342-$393 in the summer of 2023 — more than doubled to $731-$939 for the 2024 Games.

L.A.’s starting hotel rates are lower than those in Paris were. CoStar found that average daily hotel rates for greater L.A. from July 14-30, 2024, were $193-$231.

What about short-term rentals?

Again, expect prices to soar. Airbnb reported a 40% jump in accommodations inventory and a 400% jump in Paris-area bookings during the 2024 Games. On the eve of the Games, property management website Hostify.com reported that asking prices for short-term rentals in Paris had quintupled from $154 nightly to $772.

Do note that at every Games, it seems, there are reports of astronomical prices, followed by later reports of 11th-hour discounts because some people got too greedy earlier on.

Los Angeles seems to be starting out with higher short-term rental rates than those in Paris. The vacation rental website Airroi.com estimates the average Airbnb rate in greater Los Angeles for the year ended August 2025 was $283.

But of course, you can spend plenty more. One broker told The Times he has already rented out an L.A. mansion for $300,000 a month in 2028.

How far ahead can I book a short-term rental?

Airbnb allows bookings up to two years in advance, which is also VRBO’s default setting.

Will tensions between major L.A. hotels and union workers surface during the Olympics?

Hard to say. The L.A. City Council in May approved a measure requiring many hotels to raise their minimum wage to $30 hourly by July 2028. A business group started a petition drive seeking to undo the measure but fell short earlier this month.

Could President Trump’s immigration policies affect the Games?

That’s anybody’s guess. Heads of state in host countries usually play a ceremonial role, standing mostly in the background. Trump may have other ideas. In early August, he announced that he would chair a task force in charge of Olympic safety, border security and transportation.

Some foreign sports fans might stay away to signal opposition to the Trump Administration, as many Canadian travelers have been doing this year. But domestic travelers, not foreign visitors, fill most seats at the Olympics. Paris tourism statistics show U.S. visitors to that city during the 2024 “Olympic fortnight” were up a relatively modest 13% over the previous year.

Why do people go through so much trouble to see the Games?

“There is a tremendous magic,” Guenther said. “It really is quite something how people enjoy the time together with people from all over the world. … You find yourself welling up for an athlete in a sport you’ve never thought about.”

Times staff writer Thuc Nhi Nguyen contributed to this report.

After Paris sold a record 12 million tickets for the 2024 Olympics and Paralympics, the group organizing the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles is getting a head start on ticket sales.

General registration for 2028 Olympic tickets will open in January 2026, more than a full year ahead of the ticket timeline used during the Paris Games, LA28 announced on Wednesday. Tickets to the Paralympics — coming to L.A. for the first time — will go on sale in 2027.

Beginning next year, fans can register to enter the lottery for Olympic tickets at the organizing committee’s website la28.org. If selected in the random draw, fans will receive a purchase time and date for when ticket drops begin in spring 2026. Fans who are not selected for the first round of ticket drops will be automatically be entered into subsequent ones. LA28 officials plan to announce more information about the process later this year.

Single-event tickets will start at $28, with early access for locals around Olympic venue cities. In addition to major sports zones in Downtown L.A., Exposition Park, the Sepulveda Basin, Long Beach, Inglewood and Carson will host multiple Olympic events. L.A., Long Beach and Carson will host the majority of the Paralympic events.

“The LA28 Games will be an opportunity to purchase a ticket to history,” LA28 CEO Reynold Hoover said in a statement. “Whether you’re a local family attending your first Olympic or Paralympic event or a global traveler joining us for a once-in-a-lifetime experience, there really will be something for everyone across our suite of ticket options and hospitality packages.”

AXS and Eventim, which expanded their partnership with LA28, is the official ticket provider for the 2028 L.A. Olympics and Paralympics. Hospitality packages offered by On Location will be available on a first-come, first-served basis beginning in early 2026. The ticket-inclusive options include guaranteed accommodations, official LA28 transportation options and premium seating.

The Olympics begin on July 14, 2028, with a dual-venue opening ceremony at the Coliseum and SoFi Stadium. They close on July 30 at the Coliseum, while the Paralympics come to L.A. for the first time from Aug. 15-27.

The Paris organizing committee, which sold 9.5 million tickets for the Olympics and 2.5 million for Paralympics, didn’t begin its ticket registration process until November 2022, with the first, bundled ticket sales beginning in February 2023. The total number of tickets sold broke the previous record held by the London Olympics, which still holds the Paralympic record with 2.7 million tickets sold.

LA28 announced Starbucks as the official coffee partner for the 2028 Olympics and Paralympics and Team USA on Tuesday, adding a fourth founding-level partner to the growing sponsorship list with less than three years to go before the Games.

Starbucks will enter the Olympic arena for the first time by providing specially designed coffeehouses in the Olympic and Paralympic village, competition venues and volunteer hubs for athletes, fans and spectators.

“Starbucks is proud to bring connection, culture, community and incredible coffee to the world stage,” said Tressie Lieberman, executive vice president and global chief brand officer of Starbucks Coffee Company.

The Seattle-based coffee giant represents LA28’s second major founding partner of the year, joining Honda, which announced its Olympic deal in April. Longtime partners Delta and Comcast are the cornerstones of the corporate sponsorship program that will be the backbone of what LA28 has promised will be a privately funded Games.

Domestic sponsorships are intended to cover $2.5 billion of the Games’ estimated $7.1 billion budget. As of August, the private organizing committee had contracts for more than 70% of its total sponsorship goal, LA28 chairman Casey Wasserman told The Times. Financial terms for the latest deal were not disclosed.

“This is our chance to co-create a Games that will resonate for generations to come, and welcoming Starbucks to the LA28 and Team USA family marks the coming together of a world-class brand and a globally embraced event, with a shared commitment to shaping culture and community,” Wasserman said in a statement.

LA28 has also announced two other partnerships in September, bringing in equipment rental company Sunbelt Rentals and T-Mobile for Business.

Costa Coffee supplied coffee for the Tokyo and the Paris Games after the British chain was acquired by Coca-Cola — one of the International Olympic Committee’s longest-standing and most prominent partners — in 2019. But Coca-Cola has been exploring a sale of Costa Coffee, according to Reuters. As a worldwide partner, the Atlanta-based soda company has exclusive Olympic and Paralympic rights to non-alcoholic beverages.

Business and leisure travel are showing signs of a pick-up after a weak start to the year.

Scott Kirby, chief executive of United Airlines, told the Los Angeles Times that, with some easing of uncertainty surrounding tariffs, the economy and global politics, more people and businesses are gaining the confidence to hit the road again.

The airline industry is perhaps the best real-time indicator of the U.S. economy, as travel is one of the first things that businesses and consumers cut back on when they sense difficult times ahead.

Since June, however, United’s orders suggests there is more certainty as consumers know what to expect and booking demand since Labor Day has surged, Kirby said.

In an interview, Kirby took a swipe at ultra low-cost carrier Spirit Airlines, discussed artificial intelligence and explained why he thinks the 2028 Olympics might not be such great news for the airline industry.

The conversation has been edited for length and clarity

How are United Airlines operations changing in L.A.?

In Los Angeles, we have 21 gates. We have about 140 flights per day here. I think it’s our highest gate utilization airport. We’d love to have more flights, but there aren’t enough gates in Los Angeles. So the constraint in Los Angeles is gates.

Our constraint on growth in Los Angeles is the gates. Essentially, if we want to add a new route, we have to cancel our current route. We just don’t have enough gates yet.

In California, Spirit has slashed the number of airports it serves. What is the issue with the low-cost airline model?

Ultra low-cost carriers, I don’t think they work. Primarily because their business model was based on bait and switch with customers. It is based on a low headline fare and it’s really hard to figure out what all the other fees are going to be. Then you show up at the airport and get charged $99.

When your business model is based on screwing the customer, that business model is not going to work in any industry. It didn’t work here, and I never thought it would work and now that’s what happened.

Don’t people want cheaper flights?

People want good value. They get good value at United. They don’t want a cheap flight that gets delayed, that gets canceled, or where they can’t trust the airline.

It has been a tough summer for tourist traffic from some countries. What have you seen?

At the end of June, it was like a light switch got flipped back on. It had been very slow to start the year, but demand has come back. It’s been even stronger post Labor Day.

I think the economy is in better shape than most people think. A lot of the economic statistics are trailing. We’re a good real-time indicator. The economy was weak to start the year — for the first five, six months — but it is much stronger coming into the third quarter.

There was a big drop-off in Canadian travel. There was a drop in European travel. Those bottomed out in about May, and they’re still down, but they’re not down as much. It is coming back.

How have the immigration raids impacted travel?

Those are so tactical that they’re not big enough for us to see in our macro statistics. I just look at the overall demand, and the overall demand is strong. Maybe it would be a little bit stronger without that.

What is United doing to help with travel to L.A. for the Olympics?

The Olympics, interestingly for airlines, lead to less demand. When the Olympics come to town, business travel shuts down.

We’re going to add flights and we’re going to be a participant. It’s not a big deal, but it actually is a net negative for airlines when the Olympics come to town.

How is United using AI?

There are a lot of tactical places, like call centers or reading contracts, where it works. But AI is not good at everything. I am in the camp that believes AI in many industries is more evolutionary than revolutionary.

Our digital technology team thinks that they’re 30% more efficient on a lot of the coding work. We’re testing getting AI to use all the data we have to tell customers what’s going on with flights. To be able to take uncertainty out for customers, that’s an exciting example.

Good morning, and welcome to L.A. on the Record — our City Hall newsletter. It’s Dakota Smith giving you the latest on city and county government during a short week.

When Los Angeles hosted the Olympics in 1984, the San Fernando Valley refused to take part.

Valley homeowners, fearing traffic and development, successfully blocked any Olympic competitions from taking place in the Sepulveda Basin. Environmentalists also objected to using the basin, a 2,000-acre flood plain that’s home to an array of birds.

Business owners, who had hoped for a surge from international visitors, lost out. Many tourists didn’t come across the hill, and some Valley locals stayed home to watch the Olympics on television, rather than shop, The Times reported in August 1984.

Now, the Olympics are coming to L.A. and the Valley, with BMX, skateboarding, 3×3 basketball and modern pentathlon planned for temporary venues at the Sepulveda Basin.

L.A. City Council members and business leaders are planning for a flurry of activity, including Olympics watch parties, youth sports clinics and pin-trading parties where athletes and fans swap pins and other Olympics memorabilia.

They are also hoping that stores, restaurants and other businesses in the Valley can benefit from the Games.

“During ’84, I remember being this young girl in the Northeast San Fernando Valley and feeling completely disconnected [from the Olympics],” said Councilmember Monica Rodriguez at a Greater San Fernando Valley Chamber of Commerce event Thursday.

Rodriguez and four other council members who represent San Fernando Valley neighborhoods (Bob Blumenfield, John Lee, Nithya Raman and Adrin Nazarian) weighed in on Olympics planning and other city issues during the panel, hosted by journalist Alex Cohen. (Councilmember Imelda Padilla, who represents the central and eastern Valley, was absent.)

Rodriguez said her father worked at a Los Angeles Fire Department station near USC and the Olympic Village, and would come home with stories about the festivities.

Blumenfield, whose district includes Reseda, Woodland Hills and Tarzana, recalled sneaking into a men’s gymnastics final in 1984 by walking the wrong way through an exit door. (His seats were very good: actor John Travolta was a few rows in front of him, he told The Times.)

During the 2028 Games, Blumenfield is planning watch parties in his district, with locals and visitors enjoying the Games on a big screen. He hopes visitors will take the G Line to Olympic events at the basin, and stop at stores and restaurants along the way.

“We want the Olympics to be part of the whole city, including the West Valley,” Blumenfield said in an interview.

Resistance to the ’84 Olympics wasn’t isolated to the Valley: Many Angelenos feared traffic from swarms of visitors and the threat of terrorism following the murders of 11 members of the Israeli Olympic team by a Palestinian militant group at the 1972 Munich Summer Games.

Still, the pushback by Valley residents traced to another event: Mayor Tom Bradley‘s effort in 1978 to move the Hollywood Park racetrack from Inglewood to the Sepulveda Basin. Dozens of homeowners and business groups fought the proposal, and Bradley eventually dropped it.

The same opponents coalesced again when Bradley supported swimming, archery, rowing and biking events in the basin.

Renee Weitzer was president of the Encino Homeowners Assn. during planning for the ’84 Games and helped fight the Hollywood Park project. But she later broke with those opponents and backed Olympic venues in the Valley.

Peter Ueberroth, head of the committee that brought the Games to Los Angeles in 1984, also lived in Encino at the time and told Weitzer that the committee couldn’t afford a long fight over Valley venues.

Ueberroth said, “ ‘I don’t have time for this. I am pulling out of the Valley,’ ” Weitzer said in a recent interview.

Ueberroth also claimed that anti-Olympic Valley residents threw poisoned meat to his dogs at his home.

Today, Weitzer thinks the Valley lost a big opportunity to transform the Sepulveda Basin with swimming pools and other venues that the committee would have paid for.

“It would have been fabulous, and it would have served the Valley well,” she said.

Bob Ronka, then a city council member from the northeast San Fernando Valley, led the effort to put a charter amendment on the ballot in 1978 to ensure that taxpayers didn’t foot the bill for the Olympics.

In the end, the ’84 Games generated a profit of more than $250 million dollars.

“He thought it would be a financial disaster for Los Angeles,” said Rich Perelman, former vice president of press operations for the L.A. Olympic organizing committee that Ueberroth chaired.

“So we didn’t put anything [in the Valley]. Why row the boat uphill?” said Perelman, who today runs The Sports Examiner, an online news site dedicated to Olympic sports.

Nor did Bradley want a fight with Valley council members over Olympic venues, recalled Zev Yaroslavsky, who was a council member representing the Westside and part of Sherman Oaks at the time.

“The Valley was left out of any part of the Games,” said Yaroslavsky. “Most people would probably say it was a mistake.”

While the Valley didn’t host any events, Birmingham High School in Van Nuys got a new synthetic-surface running track so Olympic athletes could train. (The school is now called Birmingham Community Charter, and the neighborhood is referred to as Lake Balboa.)

Nailing down venues in the Valley isn’t the only pressure faced by LA28, the private committee paying for and overseeing the Games.

Like other parts of L.A., the Valley today is far more ethnically, racially and culturally diverse than in 1984. Rodriguez, whose district includes Mission Hills, Sylmar and Pacoima — neighborhoods with large Latino populations — has repeatedly questioned whether Latinos will be adequately represented.

LA28’s “Los Angeles” portion of the closing ceremonies and handover event at the Paris Olympics included Billie Eilish, H.E.R., Red Hot Chili Peppers and Snoop Dogg, as well as appearances by Tom Cruise and Olympic athletes, sparking criticism on social media about the lack of Latino participants.

A coalition of Latino and Asian organizations also highlighted the dearth of diversity in a September 2024 letter to LA28 chair Casey Wasserman and Mayor Karen Bass.

At last week’s Ad Hoc Committee for the 2028 Olympics, Rodriguez asked LA28 leaders about the “glaring omission of the Latino community in the flag transfer ceremonies” during the 2024 Paris Games.

“I’ll be damned if that happens again with these Games, especially in light of what our community is going through,” Rodriguez said last week, referring to the recent federal immigration raids in L.A. that have overwhelmingly targeted Latinos.

State of play

— SETBACK FOR TRUMP: Mayor Karen Bass and other California political leaders cheered a federal judge’s decision Tuesday barring soldiers from aiding in immigration arrests and other civilian law enforcement in the state. The 9th Circuit or the Supreme Court could reverse the order.

— UP, UP, AND AWAY?: The price tag for the proposed Los Angeles Convention Center expansion keeps rising and is now an estimated $2.7 billion — an increase of $483 million from six months ago. The project would connect the two existing convention halls with a new building and add massive digital billboards, including some facing the freeways.

—BAD OWNER: City Atty. Hydee Feldstein Soto announced that the city is settling several lawsuits over alleged illegal short-term rentals and party houses in Hollywood. Among them is Franklin Apartments, a rent-stabilized building that turned 10 units into short-term rentals, and later, an underground hotel.

— MEET THE TRASHERS: Bass launched Shine LA to clean city streets in time for the 2028 Olympics. Meet the San Fernando Valley group whose members — mostly retirees in their 60s and 70s — are already volunteering their time.

— PADILLA TARGETED: A group of residents in City Councilmember Imelda Padilla‘s district on Tuesday filed a notice of their intention to seek her recall. The residents — some of whom have a connection to the Lake Balboa Neighborhood Council — didn’t respond to requests for comment. Padilla’s chief of staff, Ackley Padilla, told The Times that her office is “focused on the work at hand, improving the quality of life in our neighborhoods, keeping our youth, seniors and families safe.”

—GARCETTI REEMERGES: Former Mayor Eric Garcetti, in an email fundraising pitch for U.S. House of Representatives candidate Eileen Laubacher, who is trying to unseat Colorado’s Lauren Boebert, confirmed that he is now a Valley resident after returning from India, where he served as U.S. Ambassador. Garcetti, who spent some of his childhood in Encino, wrote that it’s “great to be home in our house in the San Fernando Valley (where my LA story began).”

Zine exits. Who didn’t see this coming?

Former City Councilmember Dennis Zine last week abruptly withdrew from consideration to serve on the commission tasked with changing L.A.’s charter.

Zine, a former LAPD sergeant who is now a reserve officer, served on a similar charter commission in the late 1990s. He is known as a bomb thrower who regularly skewers some city council members by referring to them as the “Crazy Train” in his CityWatch column.

Zine wrote in CityWatch that he met with two council members, including Ysabel Jurado, ahead of his nomination hearing and concluded that he could not work with a “hostile and anti-LAPD body of elected officials.”

In an interview, Zine said he has no ill will toward Jurado — who is among the council’s most progressive members — and plans to have lunch with her. Other council members relayed to him that the full council wouldn’t support his nomination, Zine said.

“I didn’t want to see a split vote on the council floor,” he said. “I didn’t want to see a dogfight.”

Zine, who represented the West Valley when he was a council member, said he is staunchly against some proposals pushed by advocates, including expanding the size of the City Council.

Blumenfield, who nominated Zine for the commission, mistakenly told him that the appointment didn’t need council approval, Zine said.

Blumenfield said he hadn’t anticipated the “difficult process” and said the former council member would have added “immense institutional memory and experience regarding how the city works.”

QUICK HITS

• Where is Inside Safe? Inside Safe, Bass’ program to shelter homeless people, visited Skid Row this week, a Bass spokesperson said.
• On the docket next week: The City Council is expected to consider a vote on the Convention Center expansion. On Sept. 10, the council’s Transportation Committee will hear an update on transit plans for the 2028 Olympics.

Stay in touch

That’s it for this week! Send your questions, comments and gossip to [email protected]. Did a friend forward you this email? Sign up here to get it in your inbox every Saturday morning.

The first World Humanoid Robot Games have concluded in Beijing with more than 500 androids alternating between jerky tumbles and glimpses of real power as they took part in events ranging from the 100m (109-yard) hurdles to kung fu.

Two hundred eighty robotics teams from 16 countries competed at the Chinese capital’s National Speed Skating Oval, built for the 2022 Winter Olympics.

Events included traditional sports such as athletics and basketball as well as practical tasks such as medicine categorisation and cleaning.

“I believe in the next 10 years or so, robots will be basically at the same level as humans,” 18-year-old spectator Chen Ruiyuan said.

Human athletes might not be quaking in their boots just yet.

At one of the first events on Friday, five-a-side football, 10 robots the size of seven-year-olds shuffled around the pitch, often getting stuck in a scrum or falling over en masse.

However, in a 1,500m (nearly 1-mile) race, domestic champion Unitree’s humanoid stomped along the track at an impressive clip, easily outpacing its rivals.

The fastest robot finished in six minutes, 29.37 seconds, a far cry from the human men’s world record of 3:26.00.

One mechanical racer barrelled straight into a human operator. The robot remained standing while the human was knocked flat although did not appear to be injured.

Robot competitions have been held for decades, but the 2025 World Humanoid Robot Games is the first to focus specifically on robots that resemble human bodies, organisers said.

The Chinese government has poured support into robotics, hoping to lead the industry.

Beijing has put humanoids at the “centre of their national strategy”, the International Federation of Robotics wrote in a paper released on Thursday.

“The government wants to showcase its competence and global competitiveness in this field of technology,” it added.

In March, China announced plans for a one-trillion-yuan ($139bn) fund to support technology start-ups, including those in robotics and artificial intelligence.

The country is already the world’s largest market for industrial robots, official statistics showed, and in April, Beijing held what organisers called the world’s first humanoid robot half-marathon.

The biggest — and most expensive — hurdle for most Olympic planning is construction. L.A., which touted its multitude of existing venues during its initial bidding process, is already ahead of the curve.

“From where I sit, they’re probably better prepared than any city has ever been,” said Payne, who led the IOC’s marketing for 20 years and advised on the successful host bids for the 2012, 2016 and 2028 Games.

An aerial view of the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, which will co-host the L.A. 2028 Olympics opening ceremony and track and field competition.

(Myung J. Chun/Los Angeles Times)

But the next three years will not be without concerns, said Jules Boykoff, a political science professor at Pacific University and longtime Olympic scholar.

A ballot measure proposed by organizers with the hotel workers union could affect construction for the temporary venues by requiring a citywide vote.

The Olympics, scheduled to open on July 14, 2028, will take place during wildfire season.

While LA28 has promised to cover all Games operational costs, the city has still pledged funds for transportation and infrastructure improvements that will remain after the torch is extinguished and will be liable for the first $270 million in overruns.

Then there’s the federal government.

“The federal government is necessary for security, funding and transportation, but Trump is “extraordinarily erratic,” Boykoff said. While signing an executive order to establish an Olympic task force, the president also took a swipe at Mayor Karen Bass, calling her “not very competent.”

“Typically there’s coordination between the local, city government, where the Olympics are being hosted, and the federal government, positive, collaborative energy,” Boykoff said. “And there’s not that at all with this.”

More than 40 years after L.A. produced the most financially successful Olympic Games in history, the 2028 Summer Olympics will feature a new advertising revenue path for the Games.

In an Olympic first, venues used for the 2028 Olympics and Paralympics will be allowed to have corporate sponsor names after LA28 and the International Olympic Committee came to a tradition-bucking agreement announced Thursday.

Historically, the IOC has sought to limit corporate influence by keeping venues free from advertising. Major sponsors are still ubiquitous at the Games, where only Visa credit cards are accepted and Coca-Cola products monopolize the concession stands, but venues and fields of play have remained commercial-free. The traditional clean venue policy has forced L.A. organizers to refer to SoFi Stadium, which will host Olympic swimming, officially as “2028 Stadium” or “the Stadium in Inglewood.”

Not only will the new agreement help logistically by not requiring well-known venues to adopt generic temporary nicknames, but it will ease costs as existing signage can remain in place outside of the venue.

“Our job is to push and our job is to do what’s best for the Olympics in Los Angeles,” LA28 chairman Casey Wasserman told The Times. “Our job in those conversations [with the IOC] was to explain why this was more than just about money. It was about experience and value and opportunity.”

The additional revenue opportunities from naming rights agreements will help cover what LA28 has promised will be a privately funded Games.

Wasserman said the private organizing committee has contracts for about 70% of the projected $2.5-billion domestic sponsorship goal. Any money that comes from the new naming opportunities are additions to the previously estimated revenue, Wasserman said. Needing to cover the budget of $7.1 billion, LA28 has added eight corporate sponsors this year, already surpassing the total from 2024.

“The momentum is meaningful and real,” Wasserman said. “We feel good about where we are, but we certainly don’t take that for granted.”

For venues that already have sponsorship names, such as Crypto.com Arena, BMO Stadium or the Intuit Dome, the existing company can sign on as a founding-level partner to retain its naming rights during the Games, the highest level of domestic sponsorship. Otherwise, the venue will be renamed without a sponsor.

The changes have already begun. LA28 announced that Honda Center will retain its name for the Olympic volleyball competition after the Japanese automaker established its deal with LA28 in June. Squash will make its Olympic debut at the newly named Comcast Squash Center at Universal Studios as the company also holds U.S. broadcasting rights to the Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Broadcasters can now refer to the venues with their corporate sponsor names, providing a major global stage. Any signage outside of the venue will remain in place for existing structures. Naming rights are available for the 19 temporary facilities with first bidding opportunities going to members of The Olympic Partners (TOP) program.

But the field of play will remain free from visible sponsorships.

“The IOC is always looking to recognize and support the critical role and contributions of Olympic commercial partners, both TOP and domestic. We also want to support LA28 in their efforts to create new approaches and commercial opportunities, whilst maintaining the principles of the ‘clean venue policy’ that is unique to the Olympic Games,” an IOC spokesperson said in a statement to The Times. “It is a reality that many venues in L.A. and in the U.S. already have commercial naming rights and have become commonly recognized as such by the general public. Therefore, following discussions, the IOC is supporting the LA28 initiative that takes into account market realities of venue naming and generates critical revenue to stage the Games.”

With less than three years before the Olympics open on July 14, 2028, the Games delivery process has come with challenges. Soon after the IOC’s coordination commission left the city to glowing reviews of LA28’s planning progress in June, immigration raids and protests began in Los Angeles. This month, President Trump named himself the chair of a task force to oversee the federal government’s involvement in the Games, but concerns about safety and visas for would-be international visitors have persisted.

In L.A., where the city recently closed a nearly $1-billion budget deficit, transportation updates have lagged behind and leaders are in negotiations with Olympic organizers about services including security, trash removal and traffic control. Though LA28 has promised to cover all expenses related to the Games, taxpayers still face potential risk.

If the group goes over budget, L.A. would be responsible for the first $270 million of the deficit.

The organising committee for the Los Angeles Olympics says some deals are already in place for the 2028 Games.

Organisers of the Los Angeles Olympics will sell naming rights for a handful of its venues in deals expected to bring multiple millions of dollars to the 2028 Games while breaking down the International Olympic Committee’s long-sacrosanct policy of keeping brand names off its arenas and stadiums.

The organising committee announced the landmark deal Thursday, saying contracts were already in place with two of its founding partners – Honda, which already has naming rights for the arena in Anaheim that will host volleyball, and Comcast, which will have its name on the temporary venue hosting squash.

LA28 chairman and CEO Casey Wasserman said revenue from the deals goes above what’s in LA’s current $6.9bn budget.

He portrayed the deal as the sort of paradigm-shifting arrangement that Los Angeles needs more than other host cities because, as is typical for American-hosted Olympics, the core cost of these Games is not backed by government funding.

“We’re a private enterprise responsible for delivering these games,” Wasserman said in an interview with The Associated Press. “It’s my job to push. That doesn’t mean we’re going to win every time we push, but it’s our job to always push because our context is pretty unique.”

Wasserman said he also spent time explaining to IOC members how arena and stadium names are part of the lexicon in US sports.

“People know ‘Crypto’ as ‘Crypto,’ they don’t know it as ‘the gymnastics arena downtown,’” Wasserman said of the home of the Lakers, Crypto.com Arena, which will host gymnastics and boxing in 2028.

Rights for up to 19 temporary venues could be available. The IOC’s biggest sponsors – called TOP sponsors – will have the first chance to get in on the deals. Wasserman said no venues will be renamed – so, for instance, if organisers do not reach a deal with SoFi (opening and closing ceremonies, swimming) or Intuit (basketball), no other sponsor can put its name on the arena.

Not included in this new arrangement are the LA Coliseum, Rose Bowl and Dodger Stadium, some of the most iconic venues in a city that hosted the Games in 1932 and 1984. Organisers said IOC rules that forbid advertising on the field of play will still apply.

The deal adds to a growing list of accommodations pushed through for Los Angeles, which is once again poised to reshape the Olympic brand, much the way it did in 1984.

In 2017, the city was bidding for the 2024 Games against Paris, but agreed to instead host the 2028 Games. It was part of a then-unheard-of bid process that rescued the IOC from the reality that cities were becoming reluctant to absorb the cost and effort to bid for and host the Summer Games.

Olympic watchers viewed the return of softball and baseball for 2028, along with the introduction of flag football, with help from the NFL, as changes that maybe only Los Angeles could have pulled off.

LA will also make a major scheduling change for the Olympics Games, moving track and field to the opening week of the games and swimming to the end.

Wasserman said the organising committee’s position as a private entity plays a major role in its relationship with the IOC.

“We spend the time, we do the work, we make the argument, and we don’t settle for a ‘No,’ because we don’t have that luxury,” he said.

Local officials and advocates for the homeless are fearful that President Trump will take draconian action against homeless people, including pushing them into detention camps, when Los Angeles hosts the Olympic Games in 2028.

In recent weeks, Trump has appointed himself head of an Olympics task force and has seized control of local policing in Washington, D.C., declaring that homeless people will be given places to stay “FAR from the Capital.”

“Based on everything that has happened so far … I think you would have to be irrational not to worry about a worst case scenario [during the Games], where federal troops are effectively forcing poor people on the street to relocate to what is essentially a detention center somewhere out of sight,” said Gary Blasi, a professor emeritus at UCLA School of Law and a leading homelessness researcher.

On Tuesday, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said that for now, D.C. police and federal agents will clear homeless encampments in the capital and give people the option of accepting shelter beds and services or facing fines and jail time. The administration, she said, is also exploring how it can move homeless people far from the city.

The White House did not answer questions about whether it has a plan to address homelessness in L.A. in preparation for the Olympics. But White House spokesperson Anna Kelly said, “The people of Los Angeles would benefit tremendously if local officials followed President Trump’s lead to make the city safe and beautiful, especially as they prepare to welcome 15 million people from around the world as the Olympics’ host city.”

When hosting the Olympics, local officials typically try to present the best image of their city, which can include refurbishing landmarks and sports venues or cleaning up areas where homeless people congregate.

“The eyes of the world will be on Los Angeles,” and officials don’t want “people coming to the city and see this visual problem manifest right in front of them,” said Benjamin F. Henwood, director of USC’s Homelessness Policy Research Institute.

French authorities bused homeless people out of Paris before the 2024 Games, and in 1984, the Los Angeles Police Department used mounted horse patrols to scatter homeless people into less visible areas of downtown.

This time, L.A. city and county officials said they will not deviate from their efforts to place homeless people in interim and permanent housing locally.

Last year, in an interview with The Times, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said that unlike during previous Olympics, she would not bus homeless people out of the city and instead would focus on “housing people first.”

Similarly, the L.A. County Board of Supervisors has ordered county staffers to develop an encampment plan for upcoming sporting events, including the 2026 World Cup and the Olympics, that will emphasize permanent housing solutions.

But the supervisors also noted that encampments near Olympic venues will need to be “addressed,” in part to “establish adequate security perimeters.”

In D.C., in addition to taking over the city police department, Trump has deployed the National Guard to, as he put it, “reestablish law and order.” He has threatened to resend the Guard and the military to the Los Angeles area, where they were stationed this summer during federal immigration raids, if needed to maintain safety during the Olympics.

In a statement, Supervisor Janice Hahn said that federalizing local law enforcement and sending the U.S. military to American cities is “what tyrants do.” She also noted that the Trump administration has cut social safety net programs and is seeking to withdraw support for policies that prioritize placing homeless people in permanent housing before addressing other issues such as substance abuse and mental health.

“What the President is doing in DC should concern everyone,” Hahn said. “If he really wants to solve homelessness, he needs to get us the resources we need to get people housed and keep them housed.”

Nithya Raman, chair of the L.A. City Council’s housing and homelessness committee, said in a statement that given the region’s homelessness crisis, “the repercussions of similar actions as they are threatening in DC would be staggering.”

In her own statement, Supervisor Lindsey Horvath said that despite the Trump administration’s plan of “dehumanization,” the county “will keep doing what’s right — focusing on humane, lasting solutions to homelessness.”

Katie Hill, a former Democratic member of Congress who now runs Union Station Homeless Services, said she fears the Trump administration is working on “mass institutionalization of some kind” for homeless people during the Games, similar to federal immigration detention facilities, where there have been reports of inhumane conditions.

“He doesn’t care about the rules or the norms,” Hill said of Trump. “There is a lot of federal facilities and land that they could use potentially as a detention facility.”

Unlike D.C., which is a federal district where the president holds special powers, Blasi said that in Los Angeles, the federal government cannot legally lock up people for living on the streets but could “make life so miserable for unhoused people” that there are no other options besides “a camp somewhere.”

Blasi said the Trump administration could try to invoke emergency laws to incarcerate people but doubted that courts would approve.

Since she was elected in 2022, Bass has made homelessness her signature issue. In her marquee Inside Safe program, before an encampment is cleared, residents are all offered housing and services, which are voluntary, with no fines or jail time if the person rejects the help, said Bass spokesperson Zach Seidl.

Seidl said the mayor is “laser-focused on addressing homelessness through a proven comprehensive strategy” and that “this is progress she would’ve made regardless of the Games.”

Homelessness in both the city and county has dropped in the last two years, particularly the number of people who are unsheltered, which has fallen 14% in the county and nearly 18% in the city since 2023, data show. About 47,000 people live on the streets in L.A. County.

Eric Sheehan, a member of NOlympics, which opposes holding the Olympics in L.A., said he is concerned about how the Trump administration will act during the Games. But he said the federal approach to homelessness may not differ much from what local officials are already doing.

Sheehan pointed to the city of Los Angeles’ no sleeping zones, encampment cleanups monitored by police and interim housing he characterized as jail-like.

“I don’t think there is a version of this Olympics that doesn’t hurt Angelenos,” Sheehan said.

Amy Turk, chief executive of the Downtown Women’s Center, said that using the police and military to address homelessness is “an expensive intervention that is just moving someone from one place to another place.” She is particularly concerned about the impact on people fleeing domestic violence.

To mitigate the damage the Trump administration could do, Turk said it’s important for nonprofits like hers to keep working to find people permanent housing and services.

One hurdle is funding.

State and local budget constraints have reduced funding for homeless services this year, including for a temporary housing subsidy that officials said was key in reducing homelessness in the last several years.

Hill said more funds are needed so L.A. County can tackle homelessness on its own terms, not those of the Trump administration.

“Where is the money going to come from to set up something that is more humane?” she said.

With a camera trailing his every move, Nathan Chen glides across the ice at the same training center that fueled his Olympic dreams. Four years after winning Olympic gold, Chen is still the picture of power and artistry as he picks up speed to round a turn and circles an arm around his head.

“Is this a comeback?” Jean-Luc Baker, a 2022 Olympic ice dancer, playfully asks.

The reigning Olympic champion has not skated competitively since Feb. 10, 2022, when Chen landed five clean quadruple jumps to become the seventh U.S. man to win a figure skating singles gold medal.

He doesn’t intend to change that soon.

Six months before the Milano Cortina Olympics, Chen confirmed he will not defend his Olympic title. The two-time Olympic gold medalist hasn’t officially retired, but is ready to embark on a new career in medicine.

“I just want to open doors to kind of see what’s the best sort of approach for me,” Chen told The Times. “And frankly, at this point in time in my life, I’ve already accomplished enough in skating that I’m quite satisfied with my career.”

A six-time national champion and three-time world champion, Chen put an exclamation point on his career with a dominant performance in Beijing. He set the world record in the short program. He conquered demons from a 2018 disaster in which he finished fifth to win his first individual Olympic medal. He became the first singles skater in Olympic history with two gold medals in the same Games after helping the United States to a victory in the team competition.

Then Chen slipped seamlessly back into life as a student, finishing his bachelor’s degree at Yale, where he started before the Games. He began applying to medical schools while helping launch Your True Step, a series of skating seminars with Baker, who placed 11th in the 2022 Olympic ice dance competition with partner Kaitlin Hawayek, and choreographer Sam Chouinard. After giving instruction on and off the ice to roughly two dozen young athletes, the first question Chen received Friday during a post-camp Q&A was about which medical school he was going to attend.

Whichever one wants him, Chen responded with a chuckle.

Chen, who said taking the medical college admission test was even more nerve-racking than competing at the Olympics, is interested in cardiology or oncology, specifically related to genetics. He’s curious about cardiothoracic surgery, but worried about the potential work-life balance sacrifices.

The concern isn’t that Chen is scared to dedicate himself completely to a particular job. He just wants his next project to be as fulfilling as skating was.

“The basis of being a doctor, I think, is to help people,” Chen said. “I think that’s something that I didn’t necessarily feel as an athlete, that I felt was a little bit lacking, and I get a little bit of that sense doing YTS.”

The skating camps, which began in 2024, have brought Chen and Baker to rinks in Irvine, Boston, Detroit and Seattle. They came up with the idea while attending a pre-Olympic camp in 2022 so the longtime friends could remain close to each other and to the sport. Baker, 31, knew the Beijing Games would likely be his last Olympics. Chen wasn’t sure at the time.

Nathan Chen listens to the national anthem while standing on the top step of the podium after winning gold in men’s figure skating at the 2022 Beijing Olympic Games.

(Jae C. Hong / Associated Press)

Still only 26, Chen could be entering his physical prime. The sport has remained open to older competitors as technique has progressed. But the window of opportunity to realistically win is small, Chen acknowledged, as athletes push the limits toward jumps that were once unimaginable.

Leading up to the 2022 Olympics, Chen dabbled with a quadruple axel during practice, but stopped training it as the Games approached. While he came close to landing it, he was comfortable knowing no one else had the daring jump yet.

Only seven months after those Games, Ilia Malinin landed the world’s first quadruple axel in competition at 17 years old. Now the favorite for Olympic gold in 2026, the 20-year-old American has won consecutive world championships.

While Malinin, who also trains at Irvine’s Great Park Ice with Chen’s former coach Rafael Arutyunyan, landed six quadruple jumps at the 2025 world championships, Chen watched from afar.

The event took place in Boston, where Chen was completing a post-baccalaureate program. Instead of feeling like he was missing out, Chen was relieved he didn’t have to feel the stress of competition.

He’s content to enjoy what could be a golden era of U.S. skating from the sideline. The United States claimed three of four world championships in 2025, the most ever for the country in a single world championship. Alysa Liu made an improbable return from a two-year hiatus to become the first U.S. woman to win the world championship since 2006. Madison Chock and Evan Bates won their third consecutive ice dance world title. Malinin, known as “the Quad God,” became the first American man to win back-to-back singles world championships since Chen, who won three.

Chen, the one-time “Quad King,” is happy to pass his crown.

Los Angeles just can’t get a break.

The latest embarrassment is LA28 chair Casey Wasserman, the man tasked with making sure the 2028 Summer Olympics are a massive success. At a news conference this week announcing that President Trump will head a federal Olympics task force, Wasserman offered L.A. a giant whoopie cushion.

With Wasserman at his left side, Trump vowed to bring L.A. “back stronger than ever.” On Trump’s right was a rash of L.A. haters, some of whom played a prominent role in Southern California’s summer of deportations, including Vice President JD Vance and Department of Homeland Security head Kristi Noem. Not present, but hailed by Trump during the presser as an “MVP candidate,” was Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, who has made it his life’s mission to crush the multicultural metropolis that birthed him.

So what did Wasserman, a prominent Democratic donor who in recent months has thrown some cash at Republican committees, do in front of people who want to rain holy hell on his hometown?

He praised Trump’s “support” of the L.A. Olympics as “truly extraordinary” and gifted him a set of medals from the 1984 Games hosted by the city. If that wasn’t groveling enough, Wasserman was grinning after Trump joked about not using an autopen to sign the executive order creating the task force — a jab at President Biden. It was more bricks on the foundation Wasserman has been laying since January, when he met with Trump at Mar-a-Lago.

I haven’t seen such a suck-up since the last time I vacuumed my dad’s pool.

The federal government was always going to play a role in providing security for the 2028 Olympics, just as it has for previous Games in the U.S. But Trump, as the head of the task force, now gets to personally oversee our own siege.

When asked by a reporter if he would deploy the military to L.A. the way he did this summer, Trump responded, “We’ll do anything necessary to keep the Olympics safe, including using our National Guard or military, OK?”

With the Games happening in a presidential election year, Trump would love nothing more than to traipse around an L.A. radically transformed by his deportation blitzkrieg to proclaim his mission accomplished and broadcast his conquest to the world.

That’s why L.A. needs to withdraw from hosting the Olympics — the sooner the better.

Trump’s news conference, where he also called Mayor Karen Bass “not very competent,” looked like a preview of what we can expect in the lead-up to the Games. Hey, maybe the president will fall in love with the city over the next three years — and maybe Miller’s bald pate will grow hair worthy of Samson. But history has shown that no amount of puckering up to Trump will deter him from his goals — and a long-standing one is to humiliate blue L.A. at every chance.

Angelenos: Do ustedes really want to give Trump and his goon squad more chances to make life miserable for y’all? You don’t stand idly by as your sworn enemy assumes even more power to mess with you — you toss that problem elsewhere if you can. And you definitely don’t entrust kiss asses like Wasserman — I’m still not sure what he did to deserve his powerful LA28 gig, except being the grandson of the late Hollywood mogul Lew Wasserman — with calming down someone like Trump. That’s like giving a rich kid a Super Soaker and telling him to water the Huntington Library gardens.

Mayor Karen Bass speaks at an event with local leaders in front of the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in 2024.

(Christina House / Los Angeles Times)

In a city that has long faced existential problems, the idea of staging such a spectacle always sat uneasy with me. Boosters have drowned out skeptics by insisting that the Olympics will help the city and come at “no cost” to taxpayers. But the city government will have to cover the first $270 million of any cost overruns or revenue shortfalls — and where on earth would that money come from?

Indeed, few Olympics ever turn a profit. The organizing committee behind last year’s Paris Games claimed to have brought in about $30 million — which isn’t bad, but it’s just 3% of the nearly billion-dollar budget deficit that the city of L.A. faced at the beginning of the year.

Expecting the Olympics to be a financial and spiritual salvation for the city betrays Angelenos’ lack of trust in their ability to save themselves. Nevertheless, an executive for the tourism group Visit California said at a state Senate committee hearing last month that hosting the Games would present a “refreshed global image of California as the most welcoming destination in the nation.”

Spare me the PR pablum. The city doesn’t need a multibillion-dollar ad campaign to let the world know how cool it is or make it believe in itself. It needs people committed to solving problems for those who have to live with them daily — not for tourists and visiting athletes.

Supporters will whine that pulling out of the Olympics at this point is a huge inconvenience and will wreck L.A.’s global standing. But withdrawing from a commitment to host a huge sporting event isn’t unprecedented. Denver dumped the 1976 Winter Olympics three years and three months before they were set to open, and its reputation came out just fine. Mexico hosted the 1986 World Cup after Colombia pulled out three years earlier.

By passing on the Olympics, L.A. officials can set aside their concerns about whether producing a month’s worth of seven Super Bowls a day, as Wasserman loves to boast, will strain city resources. Wasserman and his band of the best and the brightest can focus on what L.A. really needs, not how to transform SoFi Stadium into an aquatics center.

And if LA28 throws a snit fit over the move? Well, then you know how truly committed they were to bettering L.A. in the first place.

I write this columna as a huge Olympics fan who watches the opening ceremony every four years, the Games’ problems be damned. I have vague but fond memories of the 1984 Games and clearly remember the Sam the Olympic Eagle lunchbox I toted around in first grade. I was looking forward to trying to score tickets to the swimming events for my wife, who was a competitive backstroker at University High in Irvine, and me.

But I don’t want my money going toward something that Trump will use to bolster his noxious legacy. I’m not going to cheer on Wasserman as he chums up Trump while la migra continues to terrorize L.A., possibly for months, if not years. I don’t want to support an event where footage of an occupied L.A. might be as front and center as the Coliseum or badminton.

What true Angeleno would?

Aug. 5 (UPI) — President Donald Trump will lead a new high-level task force that will direct federal resources toward preparing for the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.

Trump on Tuesday announced the creation of the task force that will include Cabinet secretaries and other senior administration officials he said will mobilize “the entire federal government to ensure the games are safe, seamless and historically successful.”

The task force, created by an executive order, will coordinate the federal government’s security, transportation and “entry/exit” functions for the games that are expected to draw millions of people over the course of roughly two weeks to Los Angeles in July 2028. Trump and Vice President JD Vance will serve as the respective chair and vice chair of the task force with a forthcoming executive director who will oversee its day-to-day operations.

“I think it’s going to be amazing,” said Trump. “America is a nation of champions, and in July 2028 we’ll show the world what America does best, and that’s when we’re winning like we have never won before.”

Speaking at the press event, Casey Wasserman, chairman of the 2028 L.A. Olympics organizing committee, said the Games will attract more than 150 heads of state and will host approximately 11,000 Olympic and 4,500 Paralympic athletes in 800 competitions at 49 venues. He said the Games will be the equivalent of putting on seven Super Bowls a day for 30 days and thanked Trump for his support.

It’s not clear how the task force will interface with local authorities in Los Angeles, where the city’s Democratic leaders have clashed with the Trump administration over its aggressive approach to immigration and the president’s deployment of National Guard troops to the city to quell violent protests.

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass has called the Trump administration’s deployment of U.S. troops to MacArthur Park “un-American” and supported the city’s move to join a lawsuit seeking to halt immigration raids.

Bass said in a post on X Saturday that the city will be ready for the Olympics and will not let the Trump administration “divide us.”

Trump took a swipe at Bass during Tuesday’s press conference, saying he would use the National Guard or the military to keep the event safe.

“Because, obviously, you have a mayor that is not very competent,” he said.

Trump earlier signed an executive order intended to keep transgender athletes out of women’s sports. He said there will be a “strong form of testing” to prevent transgender athletes from participating in the Olympics and suggested his administration may pursue charges.

President Donald Trump creates LA28 task force to prepare for the first Olympics in the US since the 2002 Winter Games.

United States President Donald Trump established a task force on the 2028 Olympic Games being held in Los Angeles that he said would ensure the event is “safe, seamless and historically successful”.

The 2028 games will be the first Olympics to be hosted by the US since the 2002 Winter Games in Salt Lake City, Utah.

“The LA Olympics is shaping up to be a wonderful moment for America. It’s going to be incredible. It’s so exciting,” Trump said on Tuesday as he signed an executive order at the White House establishing the task force.

The White House did not immediately release the text of the order or details about the task force’s work.

At the event, Trump praised Gene Sykes, chair of the US Olympic and Paralympic Committee (USOPC) board of directors, for the USOPC’s move to effectively bar transgender women from competing in women’s sports.

“The United States will not let men steal trophies from women at the 2028 Olympics,” Trump said.

He questioned why he did not hear applause from the room when he praised Sykes for this, and then received some claps from some people in the room.

Trump “considers it a great honour to oversee this global sporting spectacle”, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement, calling sport one of the president’s “greatest passions”.

LA28 president and chair Casey Wasserman said the task force “marks an important step forward in our planning efforts and reflects our shared commitment to delivering not just the biggest, but the greatest Games the world has ever seen in the summer of 2028.”

During a briefing Tuesday afternoon, State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said the task force would “coordinate across federal, state and local agencies to ensure streamlined visa processes, robust security and efficient transportation”.

Members of the task force include Vice President JD Vance, Attorney General Pam Bondi and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, among others, Trump announced Tuesday.

Along with the 2028 games, Trump has said that the 2026 FIFA World Cup, being hosted by the US, Canada and Mexico, is among the events he is most looking forward to in his second term.

In preparation for next year’s competition, the governments of all three countries on Tuesday said they had held the first meeting of a trilateral coordinating council of government officials, industry leaders and security professionals discussing a variety of issues, including preparedness for any security threats ahead of the World Cup.

WASHINGTON — In past Olympic Games held on American soil, sitting presidents have served in passive, ceremonial roles. President Trump may have other plans.

An executive order signed by Trump on Tuesday names him chair of a White House task force on the 2028 Games in Los Angeles, viewed by the president as “a premier opportunity to showcase American exceptionalism,” according to a White House statement. Trump, the administration said, “is taking every opportunity to showcase American greatness on the world stage.”

At the White House, speaking in front of banners adding the presidential seal to the logo for LA28, Trump said he would send the military back to Los Angeles if he so chose in order to protect the Games. In June, Trump sent the National Guard and U.S. Marines to the city amid widespread immigration enforcement actions, despite widespread condemnation from Mayor Karen Bass and other local officials.

“We’ll do anything necessary to keep the Olympics safe, including using our National Guard or military, OK?” he said. “I will use the National Guard or the military. This is going to be so safe. If we have to.”

Trump’s executive order establishes a task force led by him and Vice President JD Vance to steer federal coordination for the Games. The task force will work with federal, state and local partners on security and transportation, according to the White House.

Those roles have been fairly standard for the federal government in past U.S.-hosted Olympic Games. But Trump’s news conference could present questions about whether a president with a penchant for showmanship might assume an unusually active role in planning the Olympics, set to take place in the twilight of his final term.

There is ample precedent for military and National Guard forces providing security support during U.S.-hosted Olympic Games. But coming on the heels of the recent military deployment to Los Angeles, Trump’s comments may prove contentious.

French president Emmanuel Macron was a key figure in preparations for last year’s Paris Games, including expressing his vocal support for the ambitious Olympic opening ceremony plan to parade athletes down the Seine River on boats. Many officials were concerned about potential threats along the 3.7-mile stretch, but authorities responded by increasing security measures that included up to 45,000 police officers and 10,000 soldiers.

The task force, to be housed within the Department of Homeland Security, will “assist in the planning and implementation of visa processing and credentialing programs for foreign athletes, coaches, officials, and media personnel,” the executive order said. City officials have expressed concern that the president’s border policies could deter international visitors and complicate visa processing for Olympic teams.

Tensions with L.A.

More concentrated involvement from Trump could spell further strain with Los Angeles city officials, who sought to make nice in the wake of devastating January fires, but have fiercely bucked Trump’s recent immigration offensive. Trump swiped at Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass during his remarks on Tuesday, calling her “not very competent” and criticizing the pace of city permitting for fire rebuilding. (Bass did not immediately respond to a request for comment.)

Known for her coalition-building skills, Bass is not, by nature, a public brawler. In the aftermath of the Palisades fire, she appeared determined to preserve her fragile relationship with the president — and the billions of dollars of federal aid her city was depending on — responding diplomatically even as he publicly attacked her.

But that determined cordiality crumbled when masked immigration agents and military personnel descended on the city. With troops stationed in the city and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and other federal authorities arresting undocumented immigrants at courthouses, car washes and Home Depot parking lots, Bass took on Trump forcefully.

At news conferences and in interviews, she accused the president of waging “an all-out assault on Los Angeles, inciting chaos and fear and using the city as “a test case for an extremist agenda.”

Casey Wasserman, chairman of LA28, attended the White House event, thanking Trump for “leaning in” to planning for an Olympics that was awarded to Los Angeles during his first term.

“You’ve been supportive and helpful every step of the way,” Wasserman said, noting that the Games would amount to hosting seven Super Bowls a day for 30 days. “With the creation of this task force, we’ve unlocked the opportunity to level up our planning and deliver the largest, and yes, greatest Games for our nation, ever.”

Wasserman will also have a delicate political balancing act, managing a Games in a deep-blue city with a famously mercurial Republican president in office.

President Trump holds a full set of medals from the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles during Tuesday’s event at which he announced an executive order regarding federal involvement in the 2028 Los Angeles Games.

(Julia Demaree Nikhinson / Associated Press)

A Hollywood scion and sports and entertainment mogul, Wasserman has long been a prominent Democratic donor known for his close relationship with the Clintons.

But in recent months he has diversified his giving, with hefty donations to the National Republican Senatorial Committee, the National Republican Congressional Committee and House Speaker Mike Johnson’s leadership fund. Wasserman has publicly praised Trump’s commitment to the Games and traveled to Mar-a-Lago in January to meet with the incoming president.

Presidents have long played a role in the Games. In 1984, Ronald Reagan formally opened the Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, becoming the first American president to do so. Reagan attended several Olympic events, but repeatedly emphasized the federal government’s role was focused on security, according to the White House Historical Assn.

The Olympic Charter requires the host country’s head of state to officially open the Games, but before Reagan, the duty had been fulfilled by local political leaders or vice presidents representing the president.

Ever-tightening security

The federal government has historically provided significant funding when the Games are hosted on U.S. soil, with financial support going toward both security and infrastructure.

Leading up to the 1996 Games in Atlanta, the federal government spent $227 million on security and transportation, playing “very much a junior partner” to the Olympic Committee, then-Vice President Al Gore said at the time. Still, a bombing at the Centennial Olympic Park during the games that summer shook the security establishment.

The 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City were the first Games to be classified as a “National Special Security Event,” the government’s highest security rating for any event that designates the U.S. Secret Service as the lead agency for implementing security. That standard has remained in place for U.S.-held Olympic Games ever since. The Secret Service will also lead security coordination for the 2028 Games.

The federal government was particularly involved in the Salt Lake City games, which were held just months after the 9/11 attacks.

Los Angeles leaders are actively involved in the security planning, and are currently in negotiations with LA28 for the use of the city’s police, traffic officers, and other employees during the Olympics and Paralympics.

Security, trash removal, traffic control, paramedics and more will be needed during the 17-day Olympics and the two-week Paralympics the following month.

Under the 2021 Games agreement between LA28 and the city, LA28 must reimburse Los Angeles for any services that go beyond what the city would provide on a normal day. The two parties must agree by Oct. 1, 2025, on “enhanced services” — additional city services needed for the Games, beyond that normal level — and determine rates, repayment timelines, audit rights and other processes.

Overtime for Los Angeles police officers, and any other major expenses, would be acutely felt by a city government that recently closed a nearly $1-billion budget deficit, in part by slowing police hiring.

Wilner reported from Washington, Wick and Nguyen from Los Angeles. Times staff writer Dakota Smith contributed to this report.