LA 2028 Olympics: Investing in Youth SportsLA 2028 Olympics: Investing in Youth Sports

The host city of the upcoming Summer Olympics has officially applied to the Organizing Committee of the 34th Olympic Games for $33.1 million (30.9 million euros) to support the "PlayLA" project from 2025 to 2026. This is a crucial move aimed at increasing the participation of young people in the years leading up to the Olympics. As a positive legacy project of the 2028 Olympics, the program, which initially started with only the swimming event, has experienced a difficult beginning. It was severely hampered by the global outbreak of the H1N1 influenza pandemic. However, as everything has returned to normal, the project has recovered continuously and rapidly, setting records in both the number of participants and fundraising.

In the 2025 - 2026 fiscal year, the Los Angeles Department of Recreation and Parks submitted a formal application for a total amount of $33,123,226 (30.5 million euros), bringing the cumulative investment since 2018 to $108.28 million (100.52 million euros). This still leaves more than $51 million (47.5 million euros) available for the final stage of the Olympics.

The detailed budget application shows an ambitious and diverse investment approach. $23 million (21.5 million euros) will be allocated to the activities of 125 recreation centers across the city, and nearly $5 million (4.64 million euros) will be used for water - related programs at 53 different facilities. In addition, over $4 million (3.71 million euros) will be specifically invested in the prestigious "Signature Program", which focuses on Olympic sports and adaptive sports such as synchronized swimming and disability sports. Another $1 million (0.92 million euros) will be used for marketing activities, printed materials, and "SafeSport" training to ensure the safety of young athletes and the fairness of the events.

The development of the project is clearly reflected in the data. Starting with 148,000 participants in the 2018 - 2019 fiscal year, it is expected that by the 2025 - 2026 fiscal year, the number of participants in the "PlayLA" project will reach nearly 230,000. The project offers more than 30 different sports, including classic sports like football, tennis, or basketball, coexisting with newer sports such as skateboarding, rock climbing, or surfing. Two new sports will also be introduced: cricket, which has recently been confirmed to be included in the 2028 Olympics, and pickleball, one of the fastest - growing sports in the United States. The project will also place great emphasis on adaptive sports, highlighting Paralympic events such as goalball for the blind, adaptive surfing, wheelchair basketball, and adaptive track and field, strengthening the commitment to inclusivity.

The proposal will soon be submitted to the Los Angeles City Council for analysis and approval, which is a necessary step before obtaining the final approval of the LA 2028 Olympic Organizing Committee and subsequently implementing specific activities.