Olympic Flag Football Stadium Announced
Olympian Michael Johnson carries the Olympic Flag in the handover ceremony for the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. (via LA28 Organizing Committee)
Flag football has a home for the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.
The LA 2028 Organizing Committee announced the venue master plan that will be presented to the International Olympic Committee at its meeting on April 9, 2025 in Lausanne, Switzerland. The plan includes a home for flag football, which will have its Olympic matchups played in what the committee is calling the Stadium in Exposition Park, adjacent to the LA Memorial Coliseum in Exposition Park in Los Angeles. The stadium is better known as BMO Stadium, however, IOC regulations and conventions require the disposition of commercial naming rights in stadiums used for Olympic Games.
Flag football will share its home with lacrosse during the 2028 games. While the Olympic competitions will be held in the Stadium in Exposition Park, Olympic preliminaries will be held in locations outside the city but near to LA.
The LA28 team was excited about the venue plan.
“Los Angeles will host an incredible lineup of sports,” said LA28 Chief Executive Officer Reynold Hoover in a statement, “including some of the most popular, dynamic, and newest events which are unique to LA28 and will be played across the city, including in the Valley, for the firt time in Olympic history.”
The announcement was made as LA28’s venue master plan was approved by the city council, which involved enlisting the support of neighboring cities and regions to host certain other sports. Swimming, basketball, equestrian, and shooting, along with Paralympic sitting volleyball, will be held outside of the city in various regions. Additionally, Olympic canoe slalom will be held in Oklahoma City at an already-existing venue. Sports held this far away is not unheard of for Olympic games, though it is a more recent development. In 2024, surfing was held in Teahupo’o, Tahiti, while the remainder of the games were held in Paris, France.
“This venue plan sets the stage for the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games to engage every part of our city like no Games in history,” said Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass in a statement. “The changes approved by the City Council will improve the financial plan for the Games and help us ensure that LA28 will leave a lasting legacy.”
The LA28 Organizing Committee expects additional upates on sports that will not be played outside of the city’s boundaries.
The next step is for the LA28 venue master plan to be approved at the IOC’s Executive Board meeting next month, where it will receive the scrutiny of the new leadership, including the next IOC President Kirsty Coventry.
