The private organizers in charge of the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics and Paralympics announced a new corporate partnership Thursday, the latest in a string of deals that will help pay the tab for their $7-billion sporting event.
The agreement between LA28 and Cedars-Sinai, which will serve as the official medical provider for the upcoming Games, follows similar pacts with companies such as Dick’s Sporting Goods, Cisco and Autodesk.
LA28 approached this summer hoping to benefit from the excitement surrounding the 2024 Paris Games. Recent deals indicate some momentum, but no financial details have been released so it remains unclear where the organizing committee stands in terms of its $2.5-billion goal in sponsorships.
Reaching that total will be crucial to balancing the projected budget.
Hoping to follow in the footsteps of the 1984 L.A. Olympics — which finished with a hefty surplus — LA28 has vowed to cover all costs through private revenue sources that also include ticket sales, merchandise and payments from the International Olympic Committee.
Not every expense is included in the official budget. The federal government, for instance, is expected to contribute as much as $2 billion in services for what already has been designated as a National Special Security Event.
If organizers cannot pay their portion of the tab, city and state legislators agreed to spend potentially hundreds of millions in taxpayer dollars to settle any debts.
As of last year, LA28 said it was still $1 billion short of hoped-for sponsorships. Sports economists did not find that figure too concerning given that Olympic organizing committees normally sign the majority of their deals in the four years preceding the Games.
This week’s partnership with Cedars-Sinai made sense because the Southern California health-care provider already was part of a nationwide network that offers medical services for the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee.
In other deals since late June, Cisco came aboard as the official network equipment partner and Dick’s joined as the official sporting goods retailer. Autodesk — which makes software used by engineers and builders — signed to help design the retrofit for dozens of Southern California venues that will be used in 2028.