OKC 2028?

As we get closer and closer to the Paris Olympics, which start just more than a month from now, the organizers of the Los Angeles Olympics in 2028 made a pretty big announcement regarding those Games four years from now.

The announcement included a number of different venue clarifications, including the use of the Clippers arena for the basketball, the home of the Los Angeles Kings, Lakers and Sparks for gymnastics and the announcement that swimming and track would switch weeks, with swimming taking the second week and track and field in the first week, which is a change from the normal. The reason for this is to allow the stadium used for the opening ceremonies, SoFi Stadium, to be converted into the largest swimming venue every assembled. The ongoing US Olympic swimming trials are currently being held in Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis and have been a great success, so this seems like a pretty smart decision on everyone's part, allowing more people to see the stellar swim athletes.

However, the one announcement that stood out to me was the fact that softball, which returns to the Olympics in 2028 after sitting out this coming summer, and canoe slalom will not be held in the Los Angeles area, rather they will happen in Oklahoma.

Evidently, in the huge area that is Los Angeles, there is no softball facility that can hold more than 2,000 people, which is much smaller than what is needed for the Olympics. And there is also no canoe slalom course available in the general vicinity either. Oklahoma is a hotbed of softball as the home of USA Softball and there is a great canoe slalom venue located there as well, which has hosted Olympic Trials and other world class events. It is obviously a great location for those two sports.

This decision is a lot like what happened in Paris for this summer, with surfing taking place in Tahiti, which is in French Polynesia. The IOC has encouraged host cities to find creative ways to use existing facilities in the host country to the best of their ability. Instead of building temporary or new facilities, LA 2028 is using the best facilities available to them for the best athletes in the world. Traditionally, soccer's early rounds have taken place in stadiums around the host country, opening up the Olympics to people around the country. This happened in Tokyo and will happen in Paris as well and I assume Los Angeles will follow suit.

Obviously this could be good for fans. Those who can't make it to Los Angeles might find it easier to get to Oklahoma and the facilities for both sports are top-notch. It's good for the athletes in one respect, in that they get the best of the best when it comes to where they are performing. But, it also means they won't get the typical Olympic experience (like the surfers this summer), as they will be in separate housing away from other Olympians and won't be able to see any other sports, besides the other sport taking place in the city.

And for media who are covering the Olympics, it could be a challenge, particularly if they want to cover softball or canoe slalom in addition to other Olympic sports. I obviously won't be seeing any surfing this summer and if it happens that I am still doing this in four years, I probably won't see much softball or canoe slalom, which is a little disappointing.

But that's a long way away. Paris is coming. Time to get moving.

The canoe slalom course in Oklahoma will serve as the location for the sport at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics. USA TODAY photo.