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Last Updated on August 18, 2024, 8:30 AM | Published: August 18, 2024
OKLAHOMA CITY — With the 2024 Paris Olympic Games now closed, eyes around the world are turning to the 2028 games and the city of Los Angeles, California, which will serve as the host.
Two anticipated events may be held right here in Oklahoma City, making use of existing, top-of-the-line facilities.
The idea is in keeping with recent policy adoptions by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) that look to reduce the number of new buildings and major construction projects for the games.
Devon Park in Northeast OKC would see Olympic Softball events and the Riversport OKC complex south of Downtown would be host to the canoe slalom events during the Los Angeles games.
All of this, however, is still dependent upon approval from the Los Angeles City Council, which has yet to vote on the proposal.
While no new facilities would need building, Oklahoma City would still see some multimillion-dollar costs in preparation.
1,300 Miles Away
Traditionally, Olympics host cities would invest significant funds – sometimes billions of dollars – into the construction of brand-new, state-of-the-art facilities and stadiums.
But following past games, many of those expensive buildings have ended up demolished or have been left abandoned in their cities.
To avoid that fate – and to comply with the IOC’s recently adopted 2020+5 initiative aimed at better sustainability and “financial resilience” – Los Angeles has vowed to build no new facilities for the 2028 games, relying on the numerous existing stadiums and complexes around one of America’s richest and most developed cities.
The only problem is that there are no softball facilities in the Los Angeles area that can hold Olympic-level attendee numbers, and there are currently no canoe slalom facilities.
The largest softball stadiums in the area can accommodate only around 2,000 people compared to Devon Park’s 13,000-seat capacity, and there are currently little-to-no canoe slalom facilities across the entire Western United States.
To address this, LA28 – the official organizing body for the 2028 Olympic Games – announced in June their recommendation that Oklahoma City act as a secondary host city for those events, utilizing the existing facilities at Devon Park and Riversport OKC.
The recommendation came after lengthy negotiations with Mayor David Holt and city leaders and after confirmed approval by the IOC.
Pending approval
The last piece of the organizational puzzle, however, is approval of the plan by the Los Angeles City Council, something that has not yet been granted.
“We are still awaiting final approvals,” Mayor Holt confirmed to Free Press via text message. “But when that is appropriate, we’ll certainly have more information.”
Even as that final approval remained elusive nearly two months after the plan’s public announcement, Holt led a delegation of OKC officials to the Paris 2024 games to see the event in person and begin planning for city logistics.
“We had a team in Paris, representing various perspectives,” Holt told us. “There were people from OCPD, the City Manager’s office, the Chamber, the CVB, and of course the whitewater venue. It was really important to see everything with our own eyes and I’m sure we all took lots of notes and made many observations that will prove valuable.”
City staff are withholding further elaboration of any plans or expectations until after a vote by the Los Angeles City Council, a timeline for which has not currently been given.
The Oklahoma City Chamber of Commerce – the body said to be spearheading citywide plans to host the events – has referred all inquiries to LA28 for the time being, pending the LA City Council’s vote.
OKC Free Press reached out to LA28 directly and received this statement from an unnamed spokesperson:
“On background, the OKC venue proposal is under review by the LA City Council. We don’t have a timeline to share yet.”
Redirected funding
Even as final approvals are still pending, some city funding strategies have already been presented for improvements and renovations that will be needed for OKC facilities ahead of the 2028 Olympics.
According to a City Council filing by the MAPS Advisory Board, the OKC Public Works Department has requested more than $685,000 to compile a feasibility study and master plan for hosting canoe slalom events at the Riversport OKC whitewater facility that was constructed as part of MAPS 3.
Additionally, $3 million has been requested to update and replace Riversport’s underwater Unistrut system to which slalom obstacles are secured.
In that filing, the MAPS Advisory Board, led by Program Manager David Todd, has proposed redirecting that $3.6 million from the ongoing budget of the MAPS 3 Convention Center.
“Now that all of the MAPS 3 projects are completed and closed out, we were lucky enough to have a few projects that came in significantly under budget, and one of those was the Convention Center,” Todd told Free Press by phone. “As the Riversport was also a MAPS 3 project, it seemed natural to use that funding for improvements over there.”
MAPS funding is intended for new construction and infrastructure only, and so requires City Council approval to be redirected to maintenance or improvements of existing projects.
Todd confirmed that the redirected funding would not need to be made up or recouped by the City later.
‘With or without’
Mayor Holt, meanwhile, told Free Press that those updates and renovations to the Riversport facility would be needed regardless of future Olympics plans.
“Of course, any venue requires maintenance and improvement, but that would be true of both our venues with or without the potential of hosting the Olympics,” he said via text message, while confirming that those kinds of renovation projects would likely be the most expensive requirements for the plans.
“By far, the most significant venue investments have already been made,” he said.
Brett Fieldcamp has been covering arts, entertainment, news, housing, and culture in Oklahoma for nearly 15 years, writing for several local and state publications. He’s also a musician and songwriter and holds a certification as Specialist of Spirits from The Society of Wine Educators.
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