Why the Olympiad?
Reimagining the Olympiad (RtO) takes its name from the Olympiad—a unit of time in ancient Greece marked by each Olympic Games.
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Every four years, the soldiers of warring Greek city-states laid down their arms and gathered to mourn the dead. What followed was a multi-day festival of communion: not only athletic contests but also spiritual healing, music, art, food, and theater that asked what it meant to live as good citizens. It was a time to confront shared challenges, celebrate breakthroughs, and reweave the social fabric.
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Today, the Olympics and Paralympics are defined almost entirely by global athletic competition. RtO proposes something different: to use the Olympiad once again as a measure of human progress.
As the world prepares to converge on a single city for one of the largest peaceful gatherings of people on our planet, we ask: can host cities turn inward for reflection and outward for imagination—offering new models for planetary regeneration that inspire the world to act?
Los Angeles 2028
2028 marks the first time that Los Angeles will host both the Olympic and Paralympic Games. Previously, Los Angeles hosted the Olympic Games in 1932 and again in 1984.
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The 1984 Olympics were the first Olympic Games to turn a profit, and became the birthplace of the corporate sponsorship model that now dominates global sports. Four decades later, it’s clear that this model has run its course. Mega-sporting events increasingly displace local communities, censor free speech, devastate the environment, compromise athletes' mental and physical health, and, ironically, often fail to deliver promised financial gains. In Los Angeles, urgent outcries over the devastation the Olympics could bring to our communities and environment—especially in the wake of recent historic fires—are reaching a fever pitch.
Now that the Olympics are returning to Los Angeles, our city has a once-in-a-generation opportunity to gift a new model to the world. Emerging from the flames of disaster and upheaval, Los Angeles can offer a bold reimagining of what a modern Olympiad can—and should—become.
Imagining New Futures
Los Angeles is uniquely positioned to chart a new model for international gathering. It is a creative hub, the world’s dream factory—its film, music, television, urban arts and fashion, food culture, and digital media industries have shaped the imagination of generations.
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A sports powerhouse and crossroads of global cultures, Los Angeles is also home to 16 major professional and collegiate teams and hosts world-class competitions, including esports. From its multi-ethnic, working-class neighborhoods, cultural innovations emerged—in surfing, skateboarding, beach volleyball, and artistic swimming—that swept the globe and are now recognized as Olympic sports.
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Most remarkable of all, Los Angeles carries a unified spirit born of its diversity. Through loss and change, Angelenos have shown extraordinary resilience, rising from every neighborhood to convene, rebuild, and reweave the fabric of community.
