Good morning.
As CEO of LA28, Reynold Hoover is charged with staging the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games in Los Angeles. I spoke with the retired U.S. Army three-star lieutenant general last night about his vision and strategy to make the Games sustainable, profitable and bigger than ever. Hoover was our featured guest at a Los Angeles dinner for sustainability leaders sponsored by Deloitte, which also sponsors this newsletter.
Hoover has held senior roles in the White House, the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the CIA, along with serving as deputy commander of U.S. Northern Command (NORTHCOM). Among other things, those experiences taught him the importance of trusted relationships and partnerships to get things done.
Bringing in 15 million visitors to watch more than 15,000 athletes compete in 36 sports also requires money, technology and an army of volunteers. While Los Angeles is not planning to build new facilities for the games, it will be retrofitting old ones—building a field for track on top of the existing one in the Los Angeles Coliseum, for example, at a cost of around $100 million. Softball and canoe slalom will take place in Oklahoma City, which already boasts world-class facilities for those sports.
As a driver of long-term economic growth, the Olympics has a mixed track record. But the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles was a triumph of planning that helped make it the first profitable games in years. It took technology to a new level—1984 was a pivotal year in tech, after all—and it turned out to be a pivotal moment for women as they could compete in the marathon and other sports for the first time that year.
There’s no doubt 2028 will be a pivotal year for the Olympics, too. When asked about the legacy he would like to leave in the 2028 Olympics, Hoover said he wants to do a good job. Whether that’s staging a 50-state torch run or leveraging AI to reimagine the attendee experience, it’s clear that Hoover sets the bar high when it comes to what’s ‘good’.
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Diane Brady
diane.brady@fortune.com
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