LA 2028 Olympics: Five New Sports That Will Define the Next Generation of Games
The 2028 Los Angeles Olympics are still two years away, but the organising committee's latest announcements have generated more buzz than any Games since London 2012. With five new sports added to the program and venues that blur the line between athletic competition and entertainment spectacle, LA 2028 is positioning itself as the Olympics that finally bridges the gap between traditional sport and the content-driven interests of Gen Z.
The New Five
Cricket (T20 format) headlines the additions, bringing the world's second-most-popular sport back to the Olympics for the first time since 1900. Matches will be held at the iconic Rose Bowl in Pasadena, with India, Australia, and England expected to be gold medal favorites. The ICC estimates that cricket's inclusion will add 1.5 billion potential TV viewers to the Games' global audience.
Flag football — not tackle, but the non-contact variant — will be played at SoFi Stadium, bringing an American sport to the Olympic stage in a format accessible to both sexes. The NFL has invested heavily in the sport's international development, and the USA faces genuine competition from Mexico, Japan, and Brazil.
Squash finally gets its Olympic moment after decades of campaigning, with a custom-built all-glass court planned for the Santa Monica beachfront. Lacrosse (sixes format), which was last in the Olympics in 1908, and baseball/softball return to complete the five additions.
Venue Innovation
LA is leaning into its identity as the entertainment capital of the world. Beach volleyball will be held at an oceanfront venue in Long Beach. Surfing moves to Trestles in San Clemente, widely considered one of the world's best competitive waves. And the Opening Ceremony will be a distributed event across multiple Los Angeles landmarks rather than a single stadium show — a first in Olympic history.
Sustainability and Legacy
The organising committee has pledged the most sustainable Games ever, with 97% of venues already built (compared to the massive construction projects that defined recent Games in Tokyo and Paris). The Athletes' Village at UCLA will be converted to student housing after the Games, and all competition venues are accessible by the city's expanding Metro system.
With two years of preparation still ahead, LA 2028 is already reshaping expectations of what an Olympics can be. Whether the innovations succeed or stumble, these Games will be remembered as the moment the movement either evolved — or lost its way.
