THE BOTTOM LINE - Los Angeles does not need the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games to be remembered simply as a spectacular few weeks. It needs them to matter for years after the Olympic flame goes out.
That is why the message coming from Mayor Karen Bass and the 2026 Sports & Entertainment Procurement Summit deserves attention.
The conversation cannot simply be about stadiums, television cameras, celebrities, and medals. It must also be about something much closer to home: whether the people who live, work, and build businesses in Los Angeles will participate in the enormous economic opportunity surrounding the Games.
That is an important test of leadership.
A mayor cannot control every aspect of the Olympics, nor should any mayor receive credit for every success surrounding them. But a mayor can help determine what the host city demands from this extraordinary moment.
Bass is making the case that hosting the world should also create opportunity for the people who call Los Angeles home. She is right to make that case.
The potential economic impact is enormous. A recent analysis commissioned by LA28 estimated that planning, preparing for and hosting the Games could generate approximately $20.5 billion to $40.6 billion in economic output across Greater Los Angeles and support roughly 126,000 to 224,000 jobs.
But projections do not automatically become prosperity.
Billions of dollars can move through a city without reaching enough neighborhood businesses, entrepreneurs, and workers. An international event can generate extraordinary headlines while leaving too many people wondering what it actually did for them.
That is why preparation matters.
Bass launched the Sports & Entertainment Procurement Summit in 2024. Last year's summit brought together more than 1,600 local businesses and entrepreneurs. Her administration says ProcureLA has helped local and small businesses secure more than $45 million in contracts.
The mayor has also launched RELAY28, a regional initiative intended to connect local workers with jobs and help businesses prepare for the workforce needs surrounding the 2028 Games.
These may not be the glamorous parts of hosting the Olympics. But they could prove to be among the most consequential.
Someone has to make sure the neighborhood restaurant understands how to compete for a catering contract. Someone has to help a small transportation company navigate a procurement system that can otherwise feel impenetrable. Someone has to connect construction firms, technology companies, hospitality businesses, creative agencies, and entrepreneurs with opportunities before the biggest contracts are already gone.
Because by the time the opening ceremony begins, much of the economic race will already have been run. Contracts will have been awarded. Vendors will have been selected. Business relationships will have been established.
Preparation has to happen now.
That is where Bass's approach deserves recognition.
Her administration created an Office of Major Events to oversee the city's preparation for the Games and has advanced a broader "Games for All" vision connecting LA28 with workforce development, small-business opportunities, accessibility, and longer-term benefits for Los Angeles.
The objective should not merely be to bring the world to Los Angeles. Los Angeles should use the arrival of the world to strengthen Los Angeles.
That is the difference between hosting an event and building a legacy.
LA28 has established ambitious procurement targets: 75 percent of its addressable procurement spending is targeted toward businesses in Greater Los Angeles and 25 percent toward small businesses.
Those targets now need to become measurable results.
How many local businesses received contracts? How many small businesses benefited? How many Angelenos found jobs? How many entrepreneurs won their first major contract and became capable of winning their second, third and tenth?
And how much of the economic opportunity generated by LA28 actually remained in the communities that helped make the Games possible?
Those questions matter because accountability and ambition belong together.
If Los Angeles promises that local businesses and workers will benefit from the Games, Angelenos should be able to see the evidence.
The Olympic legacy should not be measured only in medals. It should be measured in businesses that were small before 2028 and stronger afterward. It should be measured in workers who gained skills, experience, and careers. It should be measured in young people who gained opportunities they otherwise might never have had.
And it should be measured in neighborhoods that can point to something tangible and say: the Olympics came to Los Angeles, and Los Angeles benefited.
For that reason, I congratulate Mayor Karen Bass for the leadership she has shown in preparing Los Angeles for this extraordinary moment.
Her emphasis on ensuring that local businesses, workers, and communities have a meaningful opportunity to participate in the economic benefits surrounding LA28 deserves recognition.
Leadership is not simply standing before the cameras when the Olympic flame is lit.
Leadership is doing the difficult work years beforehand.
It is preparing businesses before the contracts are awarded. It is preparing workers before the jobs arrive. It is opening doors before opportunities disappear. It is asking what will remain after the crowds leave.
And it is understanding that when one of the greatest international events on Earth comes to your city, the people of that city should have a meaningful opportunity to share in its success.
That is the kind of leadership Los Angeles needs as it prepares for 2028: leadership focused not merely on putting on a great show for the world, but on making sure Los Angeles is stronger when the show is over.
The Olympics will come and go. The athletes will leave. The television cameras will move on. The Olympic flame will be extinguished.
What remains will tell us whether Los Angeles truly succeeded.
If Los Angeles emerges from 2028 with stronger small businesses, more experienced workers, improved infrastructure, and economic opportunities extending well beyond the Games, the city will have accomplished something considerably more important than staging a successful global spectacle.
It will have converted an Olympic moment into a Los Angeles legacy.
The Olympics are coming to Los Angeles. Mayor Bass is making the case that their opportunity should belong to Los Angeles, too
(Mihran Kalaydjian is a seasoned public affairs and government relations professional with more than twenty years of experience in legislative affairs, public policy, community relations, and strategic communications. A respected civic leader and education advocate, he has spearheaded numerous academic and community initiatives, shaping dialogue and driving reform in local and regional political forums. His career reflects a steadfast commitment to transparency, accountability, and public service across Los Angeles and beyond.
