The Los Angeles, LA2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games have reached a major commercial milestone well ahead of schedule, securing over USD 2 billion in domestic sponsorship and licensing revenue with more than two and a half years to go before the Opening Ceremony.
The achievement places LA28 firmly on track to hit its ambitious USD 2.5 billion domestic sponsorship target and signals a fundamental shift in how modern Olympic Games can be financed, delivered and de-risked .
At the heart of this success is LA28’s commitment to a privately financed operating model. The Games are being planned on an operating budget of approximately USD 7.15 billion, funded largely through sponsorship, ticketing, hospitality and licensing revenues. By locking in nearly 80 percent of its domestic sponsorship goal so early in the cycle, the LA28 Organising Committee has significantly reduced exposure to late-stage economic uncertainty an issue that has complicated previous Olympic projects globally.
The model also limits the burden on public funds, with taxpayer-backed guarantees of USD 250 million each from the City of Los Angeles and the State of California now widely viewed as unlikely to be required.
A key structural reason behind the rapid commercial acceleration is the creation of the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Properties (USOPP) Joint Venture, established in 2018 between LA28 and the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee (USOPC). This integrated entity sells combined commercial rights across Team USA and the LA28 Games, allowing sponsors to activate across multiple Olympic and Paralympic cycles rather than a single event window.
For major corporations, this offers a longer storytelling runway and greater return on investment, pushing the ceiling for top-tier sponsorships significantly higher than in traditional host-city models.
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The commercial momentum accelerated sharply in 2025, with 15 new sponsors added to the portfolio. Among them were four high-value Founding Partners Starbucks, Google, Honda and Intuit joining earlier entrants Delta and Comcast. These partners form the backbone of the LA28 commercial ecosystem, contributing not only cash but also critical Value-in-Kind (VIK) services that directly offset operational costs.
Google’s role as Official Cloud Provider underlines this strategy. Its technology stack will underpin ticketing systems, logistics, data management and media operations across a geographically dispersed Games. Honda, as the Official Automotive Partner, will supply a large electrified vehicle fleet, aligning mobility operations with LA28’s sustainability goals. Deloitte provides professional and operational consulting support, while Intuit’s involvement is closely linked to venue naming rights one of the most significant commercial innovations of the LA28 cycle.
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Indeed, the IOC’s decision to allow venue naming rights on a pilot basis represents a historic departure from Olympic tradition, and LA28 has moved quickly to capitalise on it. Existing arena names such as the Intuit Dome, Honda Center and Comcast Squash Center will be retained during the Games, allowing long-term commercial investments to be integrated directly into the Olympic framework.
This approach reduces the need for temporary branding, lowers infrastructure costs and creates tangible financial upside. Collectively, venue plan revisions enabled by this policy are estimated to deliver more than USD 150 million in cost savings and revenue gains .
Beyond the Founding Partners, LA28 has built a broad Tier 2 network including Cedars-Sinai, Cisco, Dick’s Sporting Goods, Autodesk and AXS Eventim. This layered sponsorship structure adds resilience, diversifies revenue streams and ensures that specialised operational needs from healthcare to event technology are addressed through partnership rather than expenditure.
With USD 2 billion already secured, LA28 now faces a remaining gap of around USD 500 million. Organisers are confident of closing this through a small number of high-value deals, particularly in complex operational categories such as Logistics and Energy. These partnerships are VIK-heavy by nature, involving long-term service delivery, sustainability commitments and technical integration.
While negotiations are inherently slower, they align directly with LA28’s broader objectives of operational efficiency and environmental responsibility.
In a global context, LA28’s commercial performance is already historic. Its current domestic sponsorship total has surpassed Paris 2024’s entire domestic program, and it has done so more than two years earlier in the cycle. While Tokyo 2020 remains the all-time leader with over USD 3.4 billion in domestic sponsorship, that figure reflected unique characteristics of the Japanese corporate market.
If LA28 reaches its USD 2.5 billion target, it will set a new benchmark for a Western Olympic host city, validating the IOC’s shift toward commercially robust, infrastructure-efficient hosts.
More broadly, LA28’s success represents a potential blueprint for future Games. The USOPP Joint Venture, early monetisation, reliance on existing venues and strategic use of naming rights together point to a model where Olympic hosting is no longer synonymous with financial risk.
If sustained beyond 2028, this structure could reshape how the Olympic Movement approaches commercialisation, leaving a lasting legacy not just for Los Angeles, but for global sport.
