The private organizers behind the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games in Los Angeles announced a new corporate partnership Thursday, the latest in a series of deals that will help pay for their $7 billion schedule for the sporting event.
The agreement between LA28 and Cedars-Sinai, which will serve as the official medical supplier for the upcoming Games, follows similar deals with companies including Dick’s Sporting Goods, Cisco and Autodesk.
LA28 arrived this summer hoping to capitalize on the excitement surrounding the Paris 2024 Games. Recent deals show some momentum, but no financial details have been released, so it’s unclear where the fundraising committee stands on its goal of $2.5 billion in sponsorships.
Achieving this total will be essential to balancing the projected budget.
Hoping to follow the highly profitable 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, LA28 has committed to covering all costs through private revenue sources, including ticket sales, merchandise and International Olympic Committee fees.
Not all spending is included in the official budget. For example, the federal government is expected to contribute up to $2 billion for services already designated as a special national security measure.
If organizers can’t pay their share of the schedule, city and state lawmakers have agreed to spend potentially hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars to settle any debt.
As of last year, LA28 said it still expects $1 billion in sponsorship. Sports economists also failed to take into account the fact that Olympic organizing committees typically sign most of their contracts in the four years leading up to the Games.
This week’s partnership with Cedars-Sinai made sense because the Southern California health care provider was already part of a national network that provides health care services for the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee.
In other deals since late June, Cisco signed on as an official networking equipment partner and Dick’s joined as an official sporting goods retailer. Autodesk, which makes software used by engineers and builders, has pledged to help design renovations for dozens of Southern California locations that will be in use by 2028.
