Who pays for the 2028 Olympics? LA taxpayers may be on the hook

Imperfect Paradise

LAist Studios

Society & Culture

4.5 • 535 Ratings

🗓️ 7 November 2025

⏱️ 34 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In less than a thousand days, Los Angeles will be hosting the summer Olympics. Many cities worldwide have been put into debt by the games, so what could they mean for Los Angeles? LAist reporter Libby Rainey joins Imperfect Paradise to look back at the history of the games when LA last hosted them, the financial outlook for the city, and what role the federal government might play.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Support for L.A.S. comes from Car Pros Kia, featuring the 2027 Kia Telluride hybrid with a striking new design and family-friendly seating for up to eight. You can learn more at Car Pros Kia in Glendale, Huntington Beach, and Moreno Valley.
0:15.2	This L.A.S. podcast is supported by Cork and Fork Restaurant in Coachella Valley with a farm-to-table menu of
0:21.4	chef's favorites and small plates. Weekly wine dinners feature winemakers and experts from all over the
0:26.6	world. Available for catering and private events. Info at cork and forked fork wine bar.com.
0:32.7	You're listening to Imperfect Paradise. I'm Nereida Moreno filling in for host Antonia Serejido. This week, we're
0:39.7	talking about the Olympics. In less than a thousand days, the Olympic and Paralympic Games are coming
0:45.3	to Los Angeles in the summer of 28, and the stakes for the city are high. The Olympic Games have been
0:53.4	notorious in recent years for costing taxpayers billions of dollars
0:57.2	and leaving some host cities and countries in debt.
1:01.0	L.A. Olympic organizers and politicians say they're confident Los Angeles can buck that trend
1:06.0	because it's been done before. In 1932 Olympics at Los Angeles, the scene is the Coliseum and the world's
1:13.6	outstanding athletes are here. And in 1984. Once it was a village slumbering in the hot sun
1:19.8	of Southern California, then came the movies, and the city of the Queen of the Angels began to
1:24.6	sprawl across the landscape from the ocean to the desert. And today, for the
1:28.3	second time in its history, Los Angeles welcomed the athletes of the world for the Summer Olympics.
1:34.1	Both times LA played host in the past, the Olympics managed to make rather than lose money.
1:39.6	So what's the outlook for 2028 here in L.A.? How does it relate to the history of the games here and elsewhere?
1:45.9	And what does it mean that the city of Los Angeles is the financial backstop for the games?
1:50.2	What happens if things go wrong?
1:53.4	L.A.S. reporter Libby Rainey has been looking into all things Olympics, and she joins us now to break it all down.
1:59.6	Hey, Libby.
2:00.4	Hi, Noreda. So So Libby, some people might
	...

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