Organizers of the Los Angeles Olympics will sell naming rights for a handful of its venues, doing so via deals expected to bring millions of dollars to the 2028 Summer Games — but while breaking down the International Olympic Committee’s long sacrosanct policy of keeping brand names off its arenas and stadiums.
The organizing committee announced the landmark deal Thursday, saying contracts were already in place with two of its founding partners: Honda, which already has naming rights for the arena in Anaheim that will host volleyball, and Comcast, which will have its name on the temporary venue hosting squash.
Casey Wasserman, the CEO and chairman of the organizing committee for the Los Angeles Olympics, said revenue from the deals goes above what’s in the current $6.9 billion budget.
He portrayed the deal as the sort of paradigm-shifting arrangement that Los Angeles needs more than other host cities because, as is typical for American-hosted Olympics, the core cost won’t be backed by government funding.
“We’re a private enterprise responsible for delivering these Games,” Wasserman said in an interview with The Associated Press. “It’s my job to push. That doesn’t mean we’re going to win every time we push, but it’s our job to always push, because our context is pretty unique.”