The Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games and Paralympic Games are set to redefine how major sporting events are financed and presented.
For the first time in Olympic history, venue naming rights will be permitted during the Games, marking a significant departure from a century of tradition under the International Olympic Committee’s long-standing “clean venue” policy.
At the centre of this shift is the Intuit Dome, which will host basketball at LA28 and, crucially, retain its corporate name throughout the Games. This development signifies a broader commercial and strategic transformation for the Olympic Movement, one shaped by financial realities and the changing culture of global sport. For decades, the IOC enforced strict neutrality inside venues, removing all commercial branding unless the company involved was part of the IOC’s exclusive global sponsorship program.
This clean venue doctrine existed to preserve the Olympics as a space free from overt commercial influence, protecting official sponsors and emphasising the purity of competition. Stadiums temporarily adopted generic names, and corporate signage was covered or removed outright. Examples across sports are numerous: Emirates Stadium becomes “Arsenal Stadium” in UEFA competitions, while MetLife Stadium will be known simply as “New York New Jersey Stadium” during the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
Los Angeles 2028 breaks from that model. As a privately funded Games with an estimated $7.1 billion operating budget and no substantial government financial guarantees, LA28 requires new revenue streams beyond the traditional mix of broadcast rights, ticketing, hospitality, and sponsorship categories. Venue naming rights emerged as a solution.
Organisers presented the case to the IOC that corporate naming is deeply embedded in American sports culture and that suppressing these names would remove revenue from structures that already rely on private capital investment. The IOC approved the pilot model, opening the door to a new commercial architecture.
The Intuit Dome provides the clearest example. Built at a cost of approximately $2 billion and set to open in 2024 as the home of the NBA’s Los Angeles Clippers, the arena already holds one of the most valuable naming-rights deals in American sport: more than $500 million across 23 years. Under past Olympic policy, that branding would have been concealed during the Games, reducing the visibility and value of Intuit’s investment.
To avoid this, Intuit negotiated an agreement with the LA28 organising committee to retain the name during Olympic competition. The price paid was not publicly disclosed, but the strategic justification is straightforward: safeguarding long-term brand association during the highest-profile global broadcast event of the decade. This sponsorship functions as a defensive investment. Without it, the arena would have been referred to generically as the “Inglewood Dome,” weakening the continuity of the naming-rights contract and undermining exposure to millions of global viewers.
It also ensures that competitors cannot exploit the naming void. LA28’s structure includes an exclusivity clause preventing rivals from using the venue to gain brand advantage if the original naming partner declines participation. In effect, Intuit’s payment preserves the value of a long-term asset and blocks indirect ambush marketing.
From the perspective of LA28, the shift to permitting naming rights has dual financial benefit. First, it generates direct sponsorship revenue that contributes to the Games budget. Second, it reduces operational expenditure. Under the old rules, covering permanent signage required significant logistical effort and cost, particularly in large multi-surface arenas. LA28 projected approximately $156 million in combined revenue gains and cost savings through the new naming model across all relevant venues.
This aligns with the wider LA28 strategy, which emphasises the use of existing infrastructure rather than constructing new Olympic-specific facilities. Allowing venues to retain corporate identity fits the model of efficiency and cost containment that the IOC has publicly encouraged in the post-London era of sustainability-focused Games planning.
The naming rights adjustments extend beyond the Intuit Dome. The Honda Center in Anaheim, the host venue for indoor volleyball, will retain its name through a similar arrangement. The newly designated Comcast Squash Center, located on a Universal Studios backlot, will serve squash in its Olympic debut. Meanwhile, historically protected venues such as the Los Angeles Coliseum will remain exempt from corporate renaming due to their cultural and heritage status. The result is a tiered approach that distinguishes between permanent commercial assets, temporary venues, and historically significant locations.
This policy change carries wider implications for the Olympic sponsorship system. The global TOP program has always relied on exclusivity and scarcity: only one company per product category is permitted to align itself with the Games. Allowing non-TOP companies such as Intuit to maintain public brand visibility introduces a new layer of commercial complexity. To safeguard the interests of long-standing TOP partners like Visa, a clear distinction is being enforced between the structure of a venue and the competition environment inside it.
The arena may retain the Intuit name externally, but the field of play will remain free of visible branding, and Olympic sponsors will maintain exclusive operational categories such as payment systems and on-site activation.
Looking ahead, LA28’s venue naming strategy may become a template for future hosts. Should the financial outcomes prove successful and fan reception remain positive, the IOC is likely to formalise a permanent revision to the clean venue policy. With Brisbane 2032 already planning extensive use of existing stadiums and mixed public-private financing, the conditions for continuation are favourable.
The Intuit Dome agreement stands as a landmark in the commercial evolution of the Olympic Games. It reflects the increasing necessity for host committees to operate with financial flexibility, corporate partnership sophistication, and a clear understanding of brand economics. For the IOC, the decision marks a pragmatic shift toward aligning Olympic operational policy with contemporary sport business realities. For Intuit, the deal ensures that its significant long-term investment remains visible and strategically protected at the moment of maximum global attention.
In many ways, LA28 is returning the Olympic Games to the commercial innovation seen in Los Angeles in 1984 but adapted to the economics of the 21st-century sports industry.
