Los Angeles 2028 Olympics budget hits $6.9B

The Los Angeles organizing committee for the 2028 Olympics today announced an updated budget for the privately funded games, which are now expected to cost roughly $6.9 billion.

That’s up significantly from the $5.3 billion estimate that the committee included in bid documents submitted in 2017 to the International Olympic Committee, but that’s mainly because the earlier cost projection was in 2016 dollars.

Baked into the $6.9 billion estimate is a $615.9 million contingency fund in case aspects of the games cost more than anticipated. Though organizers of LA’s bid for the games have long promised that hosting will turn out to be profitable—as it was in 1984—state and city officials have already agreed to pay more than $500 million for potential cost overruns.

One new cost included in the revised budget is the $160 million in investment in Los Angeles’s youth sports that the organizing committee agreed to when adjusting its focus to the 2028 games.

Los Angeles initially submitted a bid for the 2024 Olympics, but the committee later agreed to allow Paris to claim the earlier games, with LA hosting in 2028. When the Los Angeles City Council signed off on the switch, the committee was asked to prepare a revised budget that accounted for inflation.

The newly released estimates for both revenue and expenditures assume that most of the money brought in by the games will be collected closer to 2028, when the value of a dollar is likely to be lower.

Revenue estimates haven’t changed much in the new budget, which has been reviewed by accounting firm KPMG. The games are expected to generate as much as they cost, with $2.5 billion coming in through sponsorships and nearly $2 billion earned through ticket sales.

Average ticket prices for the games will range between $13 and $457 (in 2016 dollars), according to previously submitted bid documents. The cost will be significantly higher if you want to attend the opening ceremony.

Planned to be held at the rising Los Angeles Rams stadium in Inglewood, with a simultaneous event at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, tickets for the kickoff of the games are expected to come with an average price tag of $1,783. Closing ceremonies at the Coliseum will be somewhat cheaper, with an average ticket price of $1,226.

Correction: A previous version of this story incorrectly stated that sponsorship and ticket revenues were projected at $2.5 million and nearly $2 million, respectively. Projected revenue is $2.5 billion for sponsorships and nearly $2 billion for ticket sales.