by Kevin Cody
Two complementary, though seemingly contrary goals for the 2026 FIFA World Cup and the LA28 Olympics and Paralympics were shared by South Bay business and civic leaders at the South Bay Council of Governments’ (SBCCOG) annual assembly last Thursday, March 26.
Business leaders want the global games to leave the South Bay a lasting legacy. No new venues will be built for the games. So the legacy must come from new services and businesses inspired by the games, Manhattan Beach development consultant Larry Kosmont told 400 attendees at the Westdrift Manhattan Beach during the daylong conference.
By contrast, city leaders want nothing of their efforts left behind, except fond memories.
“We don’t want people to remember transportation hassles,” LA Metro’s Joe Forgiarini said. Metro’s efforts to prevent hassles will include more than doubling its fleet of buses, from the usual 700 to 1,800, he said.
“To me, a successful event is when we are able to minimize disruption,” Manhattan Beach Police Department Chief Rachel Johnson told the SBCCOG assembly.
The chief said she knows her department did its job well when her city council doesn’t know there was a disruption in the city until she reports it to them.
“We don’t want to look like an occupation force,” she said.
The potential financial benefits of inspirational, trouble free games are significant.
LA28 is expected to bring 15 million visitors and $10 billion in spending to the LA basin.
“Sports tourism is one of the only industries that didn’t decline during the 2008 recession. That’s why 80 percent of new commercial developments are anchored by a sports facility,” Kosmont said.
He cited the 300-acre Hollywood Park development anchored by Sofi Stadium, and including theaters, restaurants, offices and a 13-story hotel as an example.
“Sports tourism has been coined with its own name — “tourna-cation.’ People park their cars at a hotel, attend their children’s tournaments, then eat, and shop and play,” Kosmont said. He described tourna-cationers as “American royalty,” with large, high income families.
South Bay tourna-cations include the girl and boys club volleyball tournaments that fill up Hermosa Beach’s 10 hotels and restaurants every July.
Kosmont cited the BeachLife Music Festival as another prominent South Bay tourna-cation business.
BeachLife will draw music fans from across the nation with national headliners Duran Duran, Offspring and James Taylor at Seaside Lagoon in Redondo Beach over the weekend of May 1-3.
BeachLife founder Allen Sanford told the assembly he was inspired to found the festival after being stuck in traffic and turning around in frustration on his way to a Paul Simon concert at the Hollywood Bowl in 2018. Shortly afterward he proposed the idea of a South Bay music festival to Redondo Beach Mayor Bill Brand.
Brand’s response, Sanford said, was “How can the city get out of the way?”
The name for the festival, Sanford said, came from his German-born wife, Colleen.
“She told me I had to call the festival BeachLife because, like kids around the world, she grew up watching Baywatch, and fantasizing about living the California beach life.
Sanford said temporary and seasonal events, like the Olympics and BeachLife inspire ideas for similar, more permanent events.
“After launching BeachLife in 2019, we kept hearing from the community, ‘How can we have this experience year-round?’”
His response, he said, was to open two new restaurants that invoke the beachlife culture, which he described as “one of the most unique cultures in the world.”
The King Harbor restaurants opened last May.
The California Surf Club Restaurant & Social Club is a private club featuring appearances by beach icons, such as Pennywise singer Jim Lindberg, and author and former world champion surfer Shaun Tomson.
The adjacent California Surf Club North Grill is a public restaurant. Both were designed by architect Stephen Jones, who is noted for his understated, beach-themed aesthetic. Both are within listening and viewing distance of BeachLife performers.
Kosmont told his audience if the South Bay hopes to get lasting benefits from the World Cup and LA28 Olympics, it needs to “start building the legacy now.”
“Legacy sports, such as gymnastics, track and field and volleyball get, on average, a seven percent boost in participation following the Olympics. But it doesn’t last long,” he cautioned.
The Los Angeles Tourism Board has already begun a marketing effort called LA One, SoFi Stadium’s Christy Castillo Butcher told the assembly.
But Carson Mayor Cedric Hicks made the point that the Los Angeles Tourism Board is not going to promote South Bay cities.
“I don’t say LA Olympics when I talk about the 2028 Olympics tennis, and cycling events at Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson. I say the Carson Olympics,” Hicks said.
Sanford echoed Hicks’ observation.
“The LA Olympics people won’t talk about the South Bay. We have to work on it on our own,” Sanford said.
Manhattan Beach Mayor Pro Tem Joe Franklin, during a Q and A with the audience, urged South Bay cities to “come out of our silos and start a unified South Bay marketing campaign.”
Some speakers described the FIFA World Cup, beginning with the US v. Paraguay match at SoFi Stadium on June 12, as a warmup for the Olympics in July 2028.
SBCCOG assembly emcee Mark Rogondino, a Fox11 sports reporter, and former LA Galaxy soccer team broadcaster, responded to that characterization by warning, “Some of you might not know how big this FIFA World Cup is going to be. It was very big in 1994, at the Rose Bowl. But it’s going to be exponentially bigger this time.”
“A relatively small percentage of people will get to go to the matches. But the watch parties will be parties like you’ve never seen before,” he said.
Redondo Beach Mayor Jim Light said his city plans to have Jumbotron watch parties at Seaside Lagoon and soccer clinics for kids throughout the World Cup matches.
In Hermosa Beach, LA Galaxy will host watch parties on the beach, south of the pier, for the World Cup semi final on July 14, or 15, the third place match on July 18, and the final match on July 19.
Manhattan Beach is not planning watch parties for the World Cup, a Parks and Rec spokesperson said.
Traffic was second only to security in concerns expressed by the speakers.
Rogondino recalled that during the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics the feared “Carmageddon” didn’t happen. But once arriving at the venues, fans had trouble getting to their seats.
The 2028 Olympics, like the upcoming World Cup, will be exponentially larger than the 1984 Olympics, when five million tickets were sold to the 221 events. In 2028 an anticipated 15 million tickets will be sold to 800 events.
Panelist Dan Rodman, from the LA Office of Major Events, recalled a lesson he learned during a reconnaissance trip to the 2024 Paris Olympics.
“We were with a guy responsible for the pick ups and drop offs of athletes at the Stade de France field and track events. He made a point that stayed with me,” Rodman said. “Operations at an individual event aren’t complicated. But at the Olympics, it’s never one and done. There are multiple competitions a day. And then you layer in an arts festival that is happening simultaneously, and guests who need special accommodations. At one point at the Stade de France, our team was standing next to the King of Spain.”
LA Metro’s Forgiarini compared doubling the number of buses for the World Cup to “creating a second Metro for 16 days.”
“Our plan is great,” he said. “But only if fans are aware of the plans. If not, neighborhoods will be inundated with traffic. People trying to park may just abandon their vehicles.”
Fans will be told not to drive to the venues. For the World Cup, shuttle hubs will be set up at nine locations throughout LA County, and rides will cost just $1.75 each way.
Once fans arrive at the venues, Forgiarini said, his challenge will be to take care of that “last mile” (the distance between mass transit dropoffs and the final destination).
“‘Way Home’ signs will be critical. Fans can be steps away from their event venue, but not know it’s around the corner,” he said.
Manhattan Police Chief Johnson said, “We spend a lot of time doing tabletop simulations with our fire and public works departments. Sometimes we talk about the absurd. We wonder, do we really need to prepare for ninjas coming down from the sky? But we want to make sure we have the equipment and personnel to stage any possible event.”
“We can’t rely on past experiences. The world is a very different place from what it was during the 1984 Olympics,” the chief said. ER
