Casey Wasserman's LA28 Takes Shape as Beverly Hills Prepares for a Global Audience
Written by Ethan M. Stone
When the Olympic flame returns to Los Angeles in July 2028, most of the competition will take place outside Beverly Hills. But for a city whose economy and identity are closely connected to international tourism, hospitality and luxury retail, distance from the playing field is unlikely to mean distance from the Games.
Beverly Hills is preparing for an influx of visitors, corporate events and Olympic-related activity as Los Angeles approaches its third Summer Games. At the center of the broader effort is Casey Wasserman, chairperson and president of LA28, the organizing committee responsible for staging the Olympic and Paralympic Games.
The Games are scheduled to open July 14, 2028, bringing athletes, spectators, media organizations, sponsors and national delegations to a competition footprint spread across Southern California and beyond. LA28 expects roughly 15,000 athletes to participate in the Olympic and Paralympic Games, with more than 800 events planned.
For Beverly Hills, however, some of the most significant effects may occur away from the stadiums.
Beverly Hills Prepares for an Olympic Influx
City officials are already considering what 2028 could mean locally.A June 2026 Beverly Hills staff report concerning the city's LA28 planning noted that while most Olympic competitions will not take place within Beverly Hills itself, the city is expected to be a highly sought-after destination during the Games. Officials anticipate strong demand for hotels and restaurants and interest from corporations, Olympic delegations and sponsors seeking locations for events and gatherings.
That could place Beverly Hills in a distinctive position within the Olympic geography.
LA28's venue strategy disperses events among more than 40 competition venues rather than concentrating them in a single Olympic district. The organizing committee has also emphasized using existing facilities instead of constructing new permanent competition venues.
Beverly Hills may therefore function less as a competition center and more as one of the region's hospitality and entertainment hubs.
Hotels, restaurants and retailers could see increased demand from visitors who want access to the Games without necessarily staying next to an Olympic venue. The city's international profile, established hotel market and concentration of high-end restaurants and shopping make that prospect particularly relevant.
Rodeo Drive Meets the Olympic Audience
Few commercial districts in Southern California possess the international recognition of Rodeo Drive. During an event designed for a worldwide audience, that visibility could matter.Visitors attending the Olympics will not spend every hour inside a stadium. Tourism, dining, shopping and entertainment become part of the broader experience of a host region, creating opportunities for communities that may never host an actual competition.
For Beverly Hills businesses, the Games could consequently resemble an unusually long international tourism event.
The potential extends beyond individual visitors. Corporate sponsors, broadcasters, sports organizations and national delegations will all operate throughout the region. Beverly Hills officials have already reported receiving and reviewing initial prospects for Games-related activities.
The city's challenge will be converting that attention into economic activity while managing the practical effects of significantly increased regional travel.
A Subway Arrives at an Important Moment
One of the biggest changes to Beverly Hills before the Olympics has nothing to do directly with a stadium.Metro's D Line extension reached Wilshire/La Cienega in May 2026, connecting Beverly Hills with Koreatown, Mid-Wilshire and Downtown Los Angeles by rail. The next section is scheduled to add a station at Wilshire and Beverly Drive in spring 2027 before continuing to Century City.
The Beverly Drive station will provide access to the Golden Triangle, including Rodeo Drive.
By 2028, that connection could take on considerably greater importance.
LA28 says spectators will be encouraged to reach venues primarily through public transportation and other shared transportation options, including shuttles and park-and-ride services. The expanded D Line will ultimately connect Downtown Los Angeles with Westwood, placing Beverly Hills along a major transit corridor between Olympic activity in central Los Angeles and UCLA, where the Olympic Village is planned.
For residents accustomed to navigating the region by car, the Games could provide one of the first major tests of how significantly the subway changes travel patterns through Beverly Hills.
Wasserman's Los Angeles-Based Strategy
Wasserman has been involved with Los Angeles' Olympic effort since its bid phase and has remained one of the central figures in planning the Games.His approach has emphasized using infrastructure the region already possesses. Los Angeles has a collection of professional and collegiate stadiums, arenas and other sporting facilities that allows LA28 to avoid the extensive permanent venue construction associated with some previous Olympics.
"LA is an ambitious city of endless possibilities and the Games will reflect our community," Wasserman said when LA28 announced the dates for the Games.
The approach also reflects the unusual nature of Los Angeles itself. Rather than attempting to turn a sprawling metropolitan area into one centralized Olympic campus, LA28 is organizing competition around geographically distributed zones.
That makes communities between those zones important as well.
Beverly Hills illustrates the point. It does not need an Olympic arena to experience the Olympics.
Opportunity Comes With Planning
The potential economic benefits also bring practical questions.More visitors mean greater pressure on streets, hotels, restaurants and public safety resources. Beverly Hills has already been preparing for those concerns as Metro service expands. City officials say public-safety resources are being coordinated around the new stations, including security coverage at street and underground levels, and that additional resources are planned ahead of major regional events including the 2028 Olympics.
Transportation may prove especially important. LA28 itself advises spectators to allow substantial travel time between venues, reflecting the enormous geographic scale of the Games.
For Beverly Hills residents and businesses, preparation may therefore involve balancing two realities: welcoming an extraordinary concentration of international visitors while preserving the accessibility and day-to-day functioning of a relatively compact city.
Beverly Hills' Place in a Los Angeles Olympics
The Olympics will officially belong to Los Angeles, but their effects will extend far beyond municipal boundaries.Beverly Hills may offer one of the clearest examples.
By 2028, visitors could arrive by subway near Rodeo Drive, stay at hotels throughout the city, dine at local restaurants and attend corporate or Olympic-related events before traveling elsewhere in the region to watch competition.
That creates an Olympic role for Beverly Hills that has relatively little to do with medals.
Under Wasserman and LA28's decentralized model, the Games are being built around the idea that Southern California itself serves as the Olympic campus. For Beverly Hills, that means the summer of 2028 could bring a global audience directly to its doorstep — even if the starting line is somewhere else.
