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As wildfires continue to rage in Los Angeles, sports are understandably taking a back seat.
The Rams moved their playoff game against the Vikings on Monday night from SoFi Stadium to State Farm Stadium in Arizona, and the Lakers, Clippers and Kings have all postponed games.
Nevertheless, with Southern California set to host eight World Cup matches in 2026, the Super Bowl in 2027, and the Olympics in 2028, the topic of whether Los Angeles will have the capacity for these large-scale sporting events will be coming into focus soon.
In an interview with NBC’s TODAY show over the weekend, California governor Gavin Newsom was asked about these events continuing in Los Angeles – and was adamant the show must go on.
“My humble position, and it’s not just being naively optimistic, that only reinforces the imperative [of] moving quickly, doing it in the spirit of collaboration and cooperation,” Newsom said.
“Donald Trump, to his credit, was helpful in getting the Olympics to the United States of America, to get it down here in LA. We thank him for that. This is an opportunity for him to shine, for this country to shine, for California and this community to shine—all that opportunity and that pride and spirit that comes not just from hosting those three iconic games and venues, but also the opportunity, I think, to rebuild at the same time.
“That’s why we’re already organizing a Marshall Plan, and we already have a team looking at reimagining LA 2.0.”
The Marshall Plan was the United States’ economic plan to rebuild Europe after World War II. Los Angeles has been working on a substantial expansion of its public transit system in an effort to prepare for 2028.
Potentially complicating matters, the UCLA campus, which is slated to be the home of the Olympic Village in 2028, is in the vicinity of the fire that has ravaged the Pacific Palisades.
Riviera Country Club, where the Olympic golf competition will be held, is also nearby.
Conservative pundits have already opined that the Olympics should be moved elsewhere in the country.
“The Los Angeles Olympics should be cancelled,” Charlie Kirk wrote on X this past Friday.
“If you can’t fill a fire hydrant, you aren’t qualified to host the Olympics. Move them to Dallas, or Miami, so the world’s athletes can compete in a place capable of actually safely building and running something.”
Penn State professor Mark Dyerson suggested to the New York Post that the games could be moved back to Paris, which hosted the Olympics last year, if the infrastructure challenges are too onerous for Los Angeles to overcome.
Dyerson recalled that, ironically, the Olympics were moved from Paris to Los Angeles in 1924 when the former faced massive floods.
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