Sports, Media, and Entertainment: Welcome to the PCC EWD 2024 Conference!

The 2028 Olympics are fast approaching, bringing the world’s biggest international sports extravaganza back to Los Angeles. However, as big an event as those games will be, LA is not suffering from a shortage of local, regional, and national sporting opportunities. Both professional and amateur athletics enjoy immense popularity with the general public, so much so that new occupations and careers are emerging as individual leagues, sports, teams, and players attract more attention and money.

In fact, the constellation of sports, entertainment, and media in the region are so prominent in today’s news that they’ve become the theme of Pasadena City College’s 2024 Future of Work Conference, happening on campus and live-streamed on Tuesday, October 29th (register here). As was the case in our last five conferences, this event gathers regional industry experts and luminaries to share their insights and opinions about sports as a form of entertainment and the workforce development opportunities that arise from that metric.

LA Sports from All Sides

The ever-burgeoning sports industry continues to boom, both in popularity and economically. In fact, ‘sports’ now are more than just ‘games.’ ‘Sports,’ as a thing in and of itself, is also big business – and getting bigger as contributory companies and industries emerge to better serve the teams, the fans, and the general public.

LA is a notable mecca for sports fans, being one of the two largest and nationally recognized major markets for both professional and collegiate sports. It boasts nine major venues that each entertain more than 20,000 spectators and 11 professional sports teams across five primary sporting sectors: the National Football League, the National Basketball Association, Major League Soccer, Major League Baseball, and the National Hockey League. Those big leagues, combined with smaller leagues and teams, pump almost $9 billion into the community each year through ticket sales and merchandising at each venue, as well as the vast volume of related sales occurring in the hospitality, transportation, and other associated industries. While the events themselves thrill viewers and participants, the economic value of these sporting activities provides critical financial assets to their local cities and towns.

As an example, in 2022, just four world-class signature events generated over $1 billion: the 123rd US Open Golf Championship ($187M), WrestleMania 38 ($215M), the College Football National Championship game ($225M), and Super Bowl LVI ($477M). Countless other smaller events were also on the calendar that year, and the revenues generated by both pro and college sports contributed a total of $365 million in state and local taxes.

LA Sports From Within

But money spent isn’t the only metric that reflects the high value of sports in the LA region. There are several other elements related to sports that are also enhancing LA’s reputation as THE place to play, watch, or engage in sports:

Infrastructure Inputs

Hosting a crowd of any size requires a sound infrastructure, from the roads, rails, and planes that transport fans and teams, to the hotels and restaurants that feed them and offer respite, to the publicly available facilities and sanitation services that keep things clean and hygienic. The LA region enjoys a globally vaunted reputation as a media and entertainment capital, not least because its infrastructure is designed to manage the logistics involved in major sporting events. As an added resource, the City has received $900M from the federal and State governments to enhance its infrastructure even more for the 2028 Olympics. Work repairing bridge, roads, and streets has begun, and more transportation and related assets will be added as the Games get nearer.

Financial Inputs

Since the COVID-19 pandemic ended, the LA region has experienced an explosion in investments specifically to build its sporting infrastructure. According to the Los Angeles Sports Council, a non-profit sports trade association dedicated to creating a stronger and more resilient LA community around its sports and sporting industries, growth in all aspects of the sports industry surged through 2023, grossing almost three-quarters of a billion ($717M) more than was received in 2022. Both college and pro sports continue to gain fans ($340M and $377, respectively), while more than 83,000 new jobs were created. The total value of labor income generated through sporting activities in 2023 was almost seven billion ($6.9), compared to $4B in 2021 and $3.6B in 2018. The figures indicate that LA’s sports industry is also an independent economic engine for the City and region.

Equity Inputs

Growth isn’t measured just by financial statistics, either. From an equity perspective, LA’s sports industries also lead the way by including athletes of all genders, ethnicities, and backgrounds. The Los Angeles Sports and Entertainment Commission (LASEC) manages the LASEC Business Connect, a supplier diversity program that identifies companies owned and managed by local, diverse individuals and connects them with the sporting agencies and organizations that can use their goods and services. Added mentoring and professional development support ensure that enterprises that are frequently overlooked in the bidding and contract procurement processes are included in both the conversations and the subsequent agreements.

Launched in 2022 in time for Super Bowl LVI, LASEC Business Connect has since been facilitating the expansion of companies chosen to provide services to major regional sporting events. Qualifying LA County-based organizations must be direct suppliers of goods or services, in business locally for at least three years, and be at least 51% owned by a woman, a minority person, those who identify within the LGBTQIA+ strata, a person with a disability, or a veteran individual.

With much of the foundation already in place for the ’28 Games, the LA County region is on its way to hosting perhaps the most successful Olympics ever. The fact that it’s also layering in an improved infrastructure for its communities and building in new and exciting equitable assets in the process indicates that, as an Olympic host, the LA basin will be the biggest winner of all.