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≡ PLAYLA FUNDING TO $108M≡
The before-the-Games legacy program created by the LA28 organizing committee for the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games, to subsidize sports participation for youth is in full swing, and expects to grow further with new budget request for the 2025-26 fiscal year.
The City’s “Play LA” program got off to a slow start, limited to swimming in the first couple of years and then the Covid-19 pandemic hit, taking down most of the next year of the program. But the project has been rebuilt, with more activity and growth. The expenditures and requests so far:
● 2018: $0.91 million
● 2019: $1.09 million
● 2020: $2.48 million
● 2021-22: $ 7.65 million
● 2022-23: $13.22 million
● 2023-24: $14.81 million + $4.45 million pending receipt
● 2024-25: $30.54 million requested (not yet received)
A new filing by the City of Los Angeles Recreation and Parks Department is asking for a 2025-26 funding of $33,123,226, broken down as:
● $23,075,076 for Recreation Center programs at 125 sites
● $4,808,063 for Aquatics programs at 53 sites
● $4,061,587 for Signature program in aquatics, sports and adaptive sports
● $1,178,500 for SafeSport, marketing and printing costs
According to the filing and prior reports, participation has been increasing:
● 148,274 participants in 2018-19 (baseline)
● 176,596 participants in 2022-23 (per report)
● 228,312 participants in 2023-24 (per report)
● 217,769 projected for 2024-25
● 229,540 projected for 2025-26
The programming offers a wide variety of options; the filing reports programs in:
● Classes, lessons and/or leagues in more than 30 sports: archery, baseball, badminton, basketball, boxing, cheer, climbing, dance, dodgeball, fencing, field hockey, fitness, flag football, golf, gymnastics, inner tube water polo, kayaking, kickball, lacrosse, martial arts (judo, karate, tae kwon do), roller hockey, running (marathon training), skateboarding, skating, soccer, softball, surfing, tennis, track & field, volleyball and water polo.
● New programs are proposed for cricket – added as a medal sport for 2028, at two sites – and pickleball, at five sites.
● Adaptive sports programs in archery, kayaking, skateboard, swimming, blind soccer, goalball, equestrian, pickleball, surfing, sitting volleyball, track & field, wheelchair basketball, and wheelchair tennis.
● Aquatics programs in swimming, diving, artistic swimming, aquatic fitness and water polo.
The request now moves to the L.A. City Council for review, before the formal request for funding to LA28.
Assuming that the request is approved and paid, some $108.28 million of the $160 million total will have been consumed by the end of the 2025-26 fiscal year, leaving $51.72 million for the final two years of program for 2026-27 and 2027-28.
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