With This Year's Olympics in the Rearview, the Prep for 2028

By Chrissa Olson

You don't have to wait four more years for America's next shot at gold; Los Angeles is kicking off the transit Olympics starting now, and small businesses are in position to win. 

Mayor Karen Bass has promised a "no-car" Olympic Games, something Angelenos are struggling to wrap their heads around, as Los Angeles has famously been car dependent since the death of the streetcar in the 1950s. But now, LA Metro has been rapidly expanding its transit system, partly spurred by the Olympics in 2028, the Super Bowl in 2027 and the World Cup in 2026.

Just the Olympics and Paralympics could attract an estimated 15 million people to the Los Angeles region, raising concerns of heavy traffic, something Bass has said she'll try to mitigate by asking companies to go remote for the duration of the Olympics.

But remote work won't solve everything. The state needs to invest in its infrastructure to prepare for the influx. The opportunity, specifically? LA Metro will need small businesses to provide security services, fencing requirements, public announcements, printing and graphic design. And that requires a hefty investment. 

"[Small businesses] need to prepare today," says Maria Salinas, president of the LA Chamber of Commerce. "If the Olympics happen four years from now, contracts open up two years before then, and a year after that, you need to be in the process [of obtaining one] already. You can't think about it for the first time in 2027 or 2028."

Just last June, LA Metro awarded $35 million in contracts to small businesses according to their award tracker. Over the past 10 years, they awarded $2 billion in contracts, 40 percent of which went to small businesses. While LA Metro makes it a point to work with local businesses, they do employ the services of state-wide or national companies as well. 

Ana Cubas, president and CEO of Mariposa Community Outreach and Environmental Consulting, obtained a $283,500 contract with LA Metro in June to conduct community outreach and environmental consulting for three different projects.

For those looking to do business with LA Metro, she says in an email that "persistence pays off." Attend small business training sessions, attend LA Metro meetings and go over agendas. As a kid, she loved the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic games, and she's "thrilled" to be a part of it as an entrepreneur this time.

"As a low-income immigrant child growing up in Los Angeles, I had a student bus pass and that's how I got around," Cubas said. "I am a big believer and fan of public transportation; it provides an essential service to get to school and to work... I truly believe that we can have a world class public transportation system in Los Angeles that can rival those systems of the East Coast."

For small business owners like Cubas, obtaining their first contract with an agency like LA Metro could be a game changer for their companies. Doing so not only provides income, it helps a business establish a track record of working with the state or other institution--and that can lend credibility to future contract opportunities. It's why the LA Chamber of Commerce runs the "Get in the Game" initiative, a program that helps small businesses connect with Olympics procurement opportunities. 

"It only takes one contract to change the economic mobility model for [small businesses]," Salinas said. "That's a transformational change for small businesses, their communities and families. That's what we need to see out of all this investment coming to Los Angeles from global events." Salinas refers to infusion LA Metro received from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, passed in 2021. The transit authority landed a little over $700 million for subway and light rail projects.

Many of the games venues are already located along LA Metro lines, from SoFi Stadium to the LA Memorial Coliseum to across the county to their Long Beach venues. But more expansion is needed, and Bass says an extra 3,000 buses will be available to, for example, connect venues to their distant parking, the LA Times reports. 

But four years is a long time and advances in transporation may be here sooner than you think. Archer Aviation's 150 mile-per-hour air taxi network is planning to zip people across LA skies as early as 2026, pending FAA certification.

In the short term, research shows business failure increases by 46 percent for Los Angeles businesses within a quarter of a mile of a construction project. Plus, new transit development could also lift land value, thus raising rent. 

Over time, however, a better connected city should give businesses a boost, suggests David Engel, president of the LA County Business Federation. "Businesses in transit service areas will always benefit from the increased accessibility to their businesses and services," he says. "Transit is a quality of life issue." 

Photo Credit: Getty Images.