Southern California in the summer of 2028 is going to be unlike anything the region has seen in decades. The Los Angeles Olympics are coming, and the entertainment industry is already maneuvering to be part of it. What is starting to take shape is not just a sports event with some Hollywood flair sprinkled in — it is a full-on convergence of theme parks, broadcast giants, and some very recognizable names from the Disney universe.
Two things are happening simultaneously. Universal has been officially named the theme park partner of the LA28 Olympic and Paralympic Games, a move that makes complete sense given who writes the checks at NBC. And on the Disney side, there are real conversations happening about whether outgoing CEO Bob Iger ends up chairing the entire operation. Neither story is small, and together they paint a picture of what a Southern California vacation around the 2028 Games could actually look like.
Universal's Olympic Deal Is Bigger Than It Looks
Comcast, the parent company of both NBC and Universal, announced that Universal Destinations & Experiences is the official theme park partner of LA28. On the surface, that sounds like a marketing arrangement. But the deal behind it is considerably more substantial.
The IOC and Comcast signed a landmark strategic partnership last year that went well beyond traditional broadcast rights. Comcast paid $3 billion to extend U.S. media rights through the 2033–2036 Olympic cycle. For context, NBCUniversal had paid $7.65 billion for the 2021–2032 Games back in 2014 — so paying nearly half that for one-third of the cycle reflects just how much sports rights have escalated. The new agreement also makes Comcast a strategic partner of the Olympic Movement rather than just a rights-holder, which opens the door for the kind of deep, creative integration we are starting to see with Universal Studios Hollywood.
The most striking example of that integration is squash. The sport will be played at Courthouse Square on the Universal Studios Hollywood backlot — the same location that stood in for Hill Valley in Back to the Future and appeared in dozens of other classic films. Elite squash is played on courts with four transparent glass walls, which means cameras will capture the backlot in full during broadcasts. It is going to look unlike any Olympic venue in recent memory, and guests on the Backlot Tour during the Games will have a front-row seat to actual Olympic competition.
NBCUniversal has covered 20 Olympic Games beginning with Tokyo 1964, and more than anyone in U.S. media history. The Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Games drew an average of 24.1 million viewers across NBC, Peacock, and NBCUniversal digital platforms through the first week — the most-watched Winter Games since 2014 and up 93 percent from Beijing 2022. By all measures, this partnership is working, and LA28 will be the biggest stage yet.
Iger as LA28 Chair Would Change the Disney Equation
The more unpredictable development is the reporting from CNN that Bob Iger is a leading candidate to replace Casey Wasserman as chair of the LA28 Olympic Organizing Committee.
Wasserman is under significant pressure to step down following a scandal involving private communications that drew condemnation from dozens of California elected officials, including the mayor of Los Angeles. The chair position is not technically open, but sources familiar with the organization told CNN they are concerned about Wasserman's ability to conduct public-facing duties without distraction. His exit is widely viewed as a matter of time.
Iger becomes available on March 18, 2026, when he formally departs Disney. His qualifications for the role are hard to argue with. He worked on Olympic broadcasts with producer Roone Arledge from 1976 to 1988. He joined the bid committee for the Los Angeles 2024 campaign, which eventually became the 2028 award. He has spent decades managing enormous productions, navigating complex partnerships, and functioning as one of America's most recognizable business figures.
For Disney fans, the more immediate question is what Iger's involvement would mean for Disneyland's role in the Games. Under the current structure, with NBC and Universal running the theme park partnership, there is an obvious corporate awkwardness around featuring a Disney property prominently. Iger chairing the committee does not eliminate that tension, but it makes a negotiated resolution considerably more likely.
Disney Is Already Embedded in LA28
The Disney connection to these Games did not wait for Iger. Last year, LA28 hired Peter Rice as Head of Ceremonies and Content, putting him in charge of producing the Opening and Closing Ceremonies. Rice spent years as Chairman of Television and General Entertainment at The Walt Disney Company. The person shaping how the world first sees and last remembers the 2028 Games is a Disney veteran.
That lineage goes back further than most people realize. Walt Disney himself chaired the Pageantry Committee for the 1960 Squaw Valley Winter Games in Northern California, personally overseeing the opening and closing ceremonies. The modern template for Olympic ceremony spectacle has Disney DNA in it going back over six decades.
On the park side, Disney created the Major Events Integration President role for Ken Potrock last year, with an explicit mandate covering LA28. That job exists to build cross-company plans for events exactly like this one.
What to Do With All of This If You're Planning a Trip
The short answer is: start paying attention now. The first LA28 ticket draw closes March 18, 2026, and there is a local presale for qualifying Southern California zip codes. A Disney vacation built around the 2028 Games — whether that means Disneyland, Universal Studios Hollywood, or both — is the kind of trip that requires a longer runway than most people give it.
Southern California is going to be electric that summer. Getting there with a real plan already in place is worth the effort.
