LA 2028 Olympics to break from tradition and sell naming rights for venues at Los Angeles Games

In recent years, the International Olympic Committee has signalled a shift from a clean venue policy to a clean field of play policy.

Rights for up to 19 temporary Olympics venues at LA 2028 could be up for grabs. (AP)

3 min readAug 15, 2025 10:37 AM IST First published on: Aug 15, 2025 at 10:37 AM IST

The Los Angeles Olympics in three years time will break new ground after it was revealed that it will break with a century-long tradition and sell naming rights for Olympic venues for LA 2028. This will be a new revenue stream for host nations, which end up spending billions to host the Olympic Games.

The Olympics have usually operated under a “clean venue” tradition. But in recent years, the International Olympic Committee has signalled a shift from a clean venue policy to a clean field of play policy. This is not the first break from tradition that the LA 2028 Olympics will have: the 2028 edition is also moving athletics to the opening week of the Games (rather than at the back) while swimming is pushed to the end of the schedule.

After LA 2028, Brisbane will be the host country for the 2032 Olympics while India is one of the interested nations for the 2036 Games. If India ends up beating nations like Saudi Arabia, Qatar and South Africa — all of which are rumoured to be eyeing the 2036 Games as well — it will be the first time the Asian country hosts an Olympics.

The Associated Press reported that Honda already has naming rights for the arena in Anaheim that will host the volleyball competition while Comcast’s name will be shown on the temporary venue hosting squash events.

The LA 2028 organising committee said on Thursday that it already has contracts in place with two conglomerates — Honda and Comcast — to put their names on stadiums at the LA 2028 Games. Stadium hosting rights are currently mega money spinners for franchises in the USA and football clubs in Europe. The SoFi Stadium, where the Los Angeles Chargers play, reportedly cost SoFi $625 million over 20 years. The Crypto.com Arena, where basketball teams like Los Angeles Lakers, Los Angeles Sparks, Los Angeles Kings, reportedly cost $700 million for a 20-year deal. Both the Crypto.com Arena and the SoFi Stadium will be hosting events during the LA 2028 Olympics.

LA28 chairman and CEO Casey Wasserman explained the rationale behind the move in an interview with AP.

“We’re a private enterprise responsible for delivering these games. 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 added that rights for up to 19 temporary venues at LA 2028 could be up for grabs. The IOC’s biggest sponsors — called TOP sponsors — will have first chance to get in on the deals. Wasserman said no venues will be renamed — so, for instance, if organizers don’t reach a deal with SoFi (opening and closing ceremonies, swimming) or Intuit (basketball), no other sponsor can put its name on the arena.