Is there such a thing as Olympics overload?
NBC bet this summer that for some sports fans, there’s no such thing, and the daily programming offerings from Paris entrapped even the most restrained of sports fans. For those tuning in for the theatrics of the highest-profile events, the primetime telecast fit the bill and compacted the biggest highlights and storylines into sizable three-hour chunks. That may seem like a lot to consume on a daily basis, but that would be neglecting the Gold Zone broadcasts, an invention that allowed viewers to follow medal-awarding events for a whopping eight hours each day and hop from sport to sport. And somehow, there is an even more immersive level — the comprehensive archive on Peacock that ensured that any Olympic appetite could and would be fulfilled.
I’ll own up to it — I watched a ridiculous amount of the Paris Olympics this summer. The combination of interest and free time resulted in a lot of couch time, and I had an absolute blast sampling sports while donning my Kevin Durant Team USA basketball jersey.
Next Olympics, I hope to improve the experience even more and attend the Games in person. Whether as a journalist or a spectator digging deep into my pocketbook, I’d love to check the Olympics off my sports event bucket list when they descend upon Los Angeles in 2028. At risk of seeming too precocious about an event that is a good four years away, these are the five events that I’d pick for my itinerary for the LA Games.
Track and Field
Track and field always lives up to the hype, probably because there is something for everyone and the objectives of the sport align most closely with the Olympics mantra: faster, higher, stronger. The events are of varying interests to viewers — Noah Lyles’ 100-meter dash victory was my favorite competition of the Olympic games, while my adopted favorite event of the decathlon took a bit of a backseat — but the sport gives the Olympics a second wind in the back half of its schedule. The stars are marketable, the records are meaningful and the USA is pretty much always competitive. And that’s just viewing on TV. I can’t imagine the electricity in the building of a track meet at that level and would instantly choose it as my top ticket of the 2028 Olympics.
The Opening Ceremony
The most enduring part of each Olympics is the opening ceremony, which accentuates one of the best aspects of the marketing and hype around the Olympics — the host city. Los Angeles figures to continue the stretch of iconic host cities and has a lot to bring visually and thematically to an opening ceremony (it’s the entertainment capital of the United States, after all). While not an actual sport, the opening ceremony gives viewers their first taste of the storylines to come and still carries plenty of clout. In a state that hosts both the Rose Bowl parade and all-time Super Bowl halftime shows, I’d bet on the LA version of an Olympics opening to be a great time.
Gymnastics
I’m no gymnastics expert, and I’m not one to identify deductions and mistakes on my own. But Olympics gymnastics is still a great time and a sport that both awes me and makes sense from a scoring standpoint. It’s narratively one of the richest and best-marketed sports, too. I still remember the 2008 Olympics and running to my backyard to play on my swingset, and I can only imagine how many young gymnastics careers are inspired each Olympic cycle. The experience of tuning in on TV (and all of the perfectly placed cameras) is amazing, but this is one sport I’d be thrilled to experience in person.
Basketball
While Olympic basketball is undoubtedly more expensive than the 82-game NBA regular season and doesn’t always pit NBA-caliber players against each other, Olympic basketball has always captured my imagination and piqued my interest, time after time. The competition has become exponentially more interesting with the global expansion of the sport, and Team USA has legitimate reason to fear their opponents in 2028. Runner-up France figures to have Victor Wembanyama and a trio of top-10 NBA draft picks from this summer on its roster, while Serbia, who almost completed a massive upset of the United States in the semi-final, should have Nikola Jokic back in action. That’s just the silver and bronze medalists, and Team USA could very well lose LeBron James, Kevin Durant and others due to age. The women’s tournament is much more lopsided, but Team USA should have plenty of star power and be worth the price of admission to watch.
My favorite aspect of USA basketball’s runs in these tournaments is that each game holds the possibility of altering an all-time great’s legacy, which offers a fun balance between the global scope of the Olympics and the domestic year-round enthusiasm in the NBA and its players.
Skateboarding
I have to choose one recent addition to the Olympic programming to include, and I’ll go with an action sport that has always fascinated me: skateboarding. Though my own career did not extend beyond a $10 Target skateboard and a walk across the local skate park, I grew up tuning into the Summer X Games and rooting on the big names as they duked it out on the halfpipe. Los Angeles should be an excellent host for the sport, too — what better place to pit the world’s best skaters against each other than SoCal? The sport seems more lowkey to watch in person than the pressure of swimming or soccer, and that change of pace is exactly what the Olympics — and my itinerary — need in order to achieve a balanced array of sports… and vibes.
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