Coliseum, Crypto.com Arena and Long Beach waterfront among 2028 Paralympics venues

Yahoo

03-06-2025

An artist's rendering of the Coliseum, which will host track and field at the 2028 Paralympic Games. The Paralympics are scheduled for Aug. 15-27, 2028. (LA28)
Already slated to be the first venue in the world to host events from three different Olympic Summer Games, the Coliseum will help break new ground for the Paralympics in 2028.
The iconic stadium is at the center of the first Paralympic Games in L.A. as it hosts the para track and field competition, LA28 announced Tuesday in an updated venue plan that placed 23 sports into their future Paralympic homes.
Advertisement
'This is a momentous occasion for the city of Los Angeles,' para swimmer and Inglewood native Jamal Hill said in an interview with The Times. 'Being a native Los Angeleno, you always hear about this melting pot of Los Angeles and many times, that melting pot, the default is to really thinking like, ethnic or racial or even cultural based. … I think it's really, really beautiful and inclusive now that that melting pot is really starting to cover ability.'
The venue plan approved by the International Paralympic Committee places the majority of the Paralympic events in L.A., with additional sites in Long Beach, Carson and Arcadia. With all competition venues within a 35-mile radius, competitors have the opportunity to be housed in one Paralympic village for the first time since Rio in 2016.
The unified Paralympic village on UCLA's campus differs from Paris, which had a decentralized plan with Paralympians staying at satellite villages. The 2024 Games, which were the first post-pandemic Olympics and Paralympics, marked the first true Games experience for Hill, who won a bronze medal in the 50-meter freestyle in Tokyo.
An artist's rendering of the swimming venue in Long Beach for the 2028 Paralympic Games.
(LA28)
After dozens of friends and family made the trip to Europe last year, Hill, who finished fifth in Paris, will be saving more seats for his hometown Games in 2028.
Advertisement
'We had 30 people that I know who are going to fly [to Paris],' Hill said. 'There's going to be like 300 people that I know at that swim venue.'
Para swimming will take place in the Long Beach Convention Center lot alongside para climbing, which will make its Paralympic debut in 2028. Long Beach will also host shooting para sport in the convention center, sitting volleyball in the Long Beach Arena and para canoe sprint and para rowing at Marine Stadium.
An artist's rendering of the Galen Center hosting badminton during the 2028 Paralympic Games.
(LA28)
Long Beach, which also is hosting 11 Olympic sports, will use the Olympic beach volleyball venue at Alamitos Beach to stage blind football in the Paralympics in a dual-use venue that mirrors the setup in Paris under the Eiffel Tower.
Advertisement
The Coliseum, which will also host the Paralympic closing ceremony, anchors an Exposition Park sports zone that includes wheelchair rugby and para badminton at USC's Galen Center.
In downtown L.A., the Convention Center will host boccia, para judo, para table tennis, para taekwondo and wheelchair fencing. Across the street, wheelchair basketball will take place in Crypto.com Arena while goalball will be in the Peacock Theater.
Venice Beach will have the starting lines for the para triathlon and para marathon.
An artist's rendering of the Los Angeles Convention Center playing host to boccia competition at the 2028 Paralympic Games.
(LA28)
Carson will host para archery at the fields at Dignity Health Sports Park, wheelchair tennis at the tennis center and para cycling track in the Velodrome. Para equestrian will take place at Santa Anita Park.
Advertisement
'The Paralympic Games showcases the highest level of athleticism, skill and endurance and it is important for LA28 to deliver a plan that not only elevates Paralympic sport, but brings it to the next level,' LA28 Chief Executive officer Reynold Hoover said in a statement.
Venues for para weightlifting, para cycling road and the course and finish line of the para marathon have yet to be announced. The 2028 Paralympics will run from Aug. 15-27, opening at SoFi Stadium. They follow the 2028 Olympics, which will run from July 14-30.
While the Olympics will be in L.A. for a third time, 2028 will mark the city's first Paralympic Games. The international sporting event for athletes with physical disabilities is coming off record viewership numbers in Paris, where the overall live audience grew by 40% compared to Tokyo and by 117% compared to Rio, according to a Nielsen Sports study conducted on behalf of the IPC.
An artist's rendering of the Paralympic wheelchair tennis venue next to Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson. An artist's rendering of wheelchair rugby at the Galen Center. An artist's rendering of the wheelchair basketball at Crypto.com Arena. An artist's rendering of the judo competition at the Los Angeles Convention Center.
LA28
NBC reported a record 15.4 million total viewers across its TV and streaming platforms for the Paralympic Games, which followed a similar boost in interest to the Olympics last summer.
Advertisement
'The Olympics and the Paralympics are truly becoming this concurrent and congruent movement which reflects the times that we're in,' Hill said. 'People aren't afraid anymore. They're not ashamed of who they are. They're not ashamed of their disability. They're not afraid to speak out and be seen as different because it's more accepted than ever for us to say, you know what, we're all different.'
Read more: LA28 announces Dodger Stadium among new 2028 Olympic venues, lineup nearly complete
Get the best, most interesting and strangest stories of the day from the L.A. sports scene and beyond from our newsletter The Sports Report.
This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.