LA28 Chairman Casey Wasserman Breaks Down 2028 Olympic Location Choices
In wake of the announcement that swimming would inside So-Fi Stadium for the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games, LA28 committee chairman Casey Wasserman spoke to media at Lucas Oil Stadium about the decision Saturday. Wasserman provided additional information about the logistics surrounding the decisions, as well as decisions relating to other sports such as softball.
Wasserman said that it was “very unlikely” that the 2028 U.S. Olympic trials for swimming would be in So-Fi stadium, due to the fact that there would be concerts happening in the stadium that would conflict with the meet and the construction of the pool. Additionally, LA28 also needs time to prepare for the opening ceremony in So-Fi. Bcause of the opening ceremony, swimming will pushed to week two of the Games (different from its typical time slot during week one), and parts of the pool deck will have to be built in five days.
Despite the fact that the 2024 U.S. Olympic trials, which are happening inside Lucas Oil Stadium, happen four years before the LA28 Olympics, Wasserman said that LA28 and USA Swimming both inspired each other when it came to the idea of hosting swim meets in NFL stadiums.
In addition, Wasserman said that the pools for the LA Games would likely be built by the same people who built the pools inside Lucas Oil Stadium.
“We started thinking about alternative locations for swimming, and in conversations with USA Swimming, [we sad] we’ve been exploring this idea because it’s obviously complicated,” Wasserman said of putting swimming in a football stadium. “They said, ‘look, we’ve thought about it too and if you’re going to head that way, we’re going to go first and really learn all the lessons, create the opportunity.”
It was originally part of the LA28 plan for swimming to be held at a temporary venue on Derivaux Field, the baseball field at the University of Southern California. However, because USC’s campus master plan was changed, the field was no longer available for the games — a fact that Wasserman said was known by the committee for several years.
Wasserman will be in attendance for night eight finals of Olympic trials — which will include the women’s 800 free final headlined by Katie Ledecky, who is on the board of LA28.
On Softball
Wasserman also discussed the decision to move softball and slalom canoe to Oklahoma City for the games, a choice that was met with massive controversy within the softball community. He said that part of the reason why softball, which was at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics but won’t be played at the 2024 Paris Olympics, got moved to the city was to save cost.
“When you add sports, you add cost and complexity,” Wasserman said. “So anything we can do to reduce cost and complexity, we’re gonna take advantage of because as everyone knows, we’re responsible for paying for these games.”
Oklahoma City is home to the USA Softball Hall of Fame Stadium, which is where the Women’s College World Series has been played every year since 1990 (with the exception of 1996). Wasserman is against the idea of putting softball in a baseball stadium, despite the fact that there are two Major League Baseball stadiums (Dodger Stadium and Angel Stadium) in the L.A. area and baseball will likely be played at Dodger stadium.
However, Wasserman says that softball and slalom canoe athletes will get the opportunity to be in L.A. to attend at least one of the opening or closing ceremonies.
“We think softball is an incredible sport. So to showcase it in a baseball stadium is less than the best presentation of what is a spectacular sport, and we don’t think that’s fair to the sport of softball to put it in Angel Stadium,” Wasserman said. “[Oklahoma City[ has the best venue probably in the world for softball — it’s one of the most important sports in [Oklahoma], in that community, and that’s going to create the greatest experience for softball athletes around the world.”
On Caitlin Clark
In addition, Wasserman was asked about the decision to leave Indiana Fever rookie and 2024 WNBA No. 1 overall draft pick Caitlin Clark off the 2024 Paris U.S. Olympic women’s basketball team, which has drawn controversy due to Clark’s popularity in the sport. He calls the decision a “missed opportunity” to grow women’s basketball.
“[Clark] is clearly a generational talent at a time when the world was ready for it,” Wasserman said. “There have have been incredible talents and shame on all of us, [we weren’t] in a place to embrace that. I mean, take Diana [Tirausi] or Breanna Stewart…they’re dominant at a level that’s never been seen before. But the world wasn’t ready to fill a building like [they did for Clark.]”
“I just think it would have been an opportunity to elevate the women’s team.”
Wasserman also pointed out that Clark didn’t get the opportunity to be evaluated by USA Basketball in the same way that other players were, as she had to miss the only National Team training camp she was invited to because she had been playing in the NCAA Final Four.
However, Wasserman also acknowledges that the difficulties of being on the selection committee for the Olympic team, who prioritized picking out the best possible team for Paris. Notably, Clark does not have any experience playing with the senior national team in the past.
“I understand the other side of it, which is an independent process,” Wasserman said. “If it were simple, we wouldn’t be debating it.”
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