The 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games and Paralympic Games won’t have venues in Santa Barbara County, but the region will still feel the impacts of the massive event. 

Local elected officials were briefed Thursday on the Southern California Association of Governments’ plans to effectively move passengers and freight through the region during the summer games. 

“The Olympics is one of the things that keeps me up at night,” SCAG Executive Director Kome Ajise told the Santa Barbara County Association of Governments board, which includes mayors, council members and county supervisors. 

“We need to figure out how to engage communities in carrying on their lives while we have 15 million more people in our communities trying to get to the games.”

The 1984 Olympic Games hosted in Los Angeles and the upcoming events are “totally different animals,” Ajise said. 

L.A. hosts the Olympic Games from July 14 to July 30, 2028, and then the Paralympic Games from Aug. 15 to Aug. 27.

It’s a bigger and more complex undertaking than before, with four times as many events and an estimated 15-20 million spectators to plan around, Ajise said. 

“This is the largest peacetime gathering of humanity in any one place in one time in the history of humanity, so it’s an event to be mindful of,” Ajise said. “However, it’s going to come and go; what does it leave in its wake.” 

Santa Barbara County Supervisor Bob Nelson asked about the local impact from the Games, and Ajise noted that there will be spectators coming from all over the world and all over the country. 

“People in the U.S. finally have a chance to go to the games who may not have been able to go to Paris, for example. They will not all stay in L.A., they’re looking for beautiful places to stay at,” he said. 

Communities that don’t have a venue can create festival villages, or community hubs, with food and music for a more social experience than watching the events broadcast at home, Ajise said. 

These hubs tend to be operated with public-private partnerships, and cities sometimes use their public spaces, he added. 

Regional Travel Demand & Restrictions

SCAG is planning for travel demand during the games and will help cities create community hubs to distribute gatherings across the region. Paris did this well, Ajise said, so people felt like they were part of the games. 

Caltrans will manage a games route network, a segment of highway and city street systems designated for athletes, officials and dignitaries, that “won’t be available for the rest of us to drive on,” Ajise said. 

“I have every assurance that the athletes are going to be fantastic, there’s no question about that. The rest of the world will see some great things on TV,” he said.

“What I am really concerned about… are we able to move people, are we able to sustain the activities in our region to the level that it needs to be while the games are going on? Or do we end up with a situation where things are just jammed up?” 

SBCAG Executive Director Marjie Kirn said her takeaways were that there won’t be any parking at venues, “so alternative transportation is going to be a must”; the designated road network will “interesting” to see in action; and there will be a big demand for buses and bus drivers. 

Ajise said plans call for adding about 2,600-2,700 buses and staff in addition to the existing Metro fleet of about 3,000 in the Southern California area. 

Local Plans

Nelson said he wants to launch a Santa Barbara County Olympic Committee in 2026. It’s an opportunity to build community and celebrate athletics and sports, he said. 

Solvang Mayor David Brown said the city has already inquired about hosting some of the attendees. 

“Solvang is known as the Danish capital of America, so we made some outreach to our Denmark friends, and will hopefully host them as well,” he said. 

Some cities are inviting L.A.-area consulate staff for tours, to showcase hosting or other opportunities for the Olympic Games, Ajise said.  

“I’m excited about the games in a way I wasn’t before,” county Supervisor Joan Hartmann said after Ajise’s presentation. 

In the 1984 Olympic Games, Lake Casitas in Ventura County was used for canoeing and rowing, and UC Santa Barbara hosted an Olympic village for some athletes. 

Lake Casitas is not listed as a venue for the 2028 Olympic Games.

Most of the 2028 venues are clustered in Los Angeles County and Orange County. No new permanent venues are being built for these games, according to LA28.