- Trump's tax bill allocates $1 billion for 2028 LA Olympics security and planning.
- The funds may cover security and possibly a spectator bus system, amid uncertainties.
- Federal oversight by U.S. Secret Service is expected, ensuring event success and safety.
WASHINGTON — Just a few lines in the nearly 1,000-page tax and spending cut bill signed into law on July 4 by President Donald Trump mean big money for the 2028 Summer Games in Los Angeles.
There, among a list of State Homeland Security Grant Programs funded by the bill, is $1 billion "for security, planning, and other costs related to the 2028 Olympics," just below $625 million for security at the 2026 FIFA World Cup hosted by the U.S., Mexico and Canada.
The Olympic appropriation was called a "huge security funding win" by The Sports Examiner's Rich Perelman, who told the Deseret News that it's the first significant federal spending on what will be LA's third Summer Games.
What's not clear is exactly how the funds will be used, given the "other costs" option.
While security measures that will be overseen by the federal government are the likely use of the money, the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transit Authority has been asking Washington, D.C., for $3.2 billion, largely to pay for a spectator bus system at the Summer Games.
Perelman said he believes there's "a possibility" the federal government might use security concerns to take over spectator transportation from California authorities, given a highly critical letter from U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy to LA Mayor Karen Bass.
"Look at what's being said. Look at the political environment," Perelman said, adding, "I do think we know one thing, and that is that the Trump administration does want the Games to be a success. ... Trump does not want to be embarrassed with a Games that doesn't work properly."
The June 26 letter cited Duffy's "deep concern over law-abiding citizens in the Los Angeles metropolitan area being unable to access federally funded transit services because of your failure to stop the violent riots in your city," during protests against federal immigration raids.
He said station closures and route changes were the result of the mayor's "inability or unwillingness to control the protests and violent mobs that paralyzed Los Angeles. I'm grateful President Donald Trump deployed the National Guard and Marines to stop the chaos."
The grants specified in the Trump bill are administered by the Federal Emergency Management Agency and described as "risk-based," intended to assist efforts in "preventing, protecting against, mitigating, responding to and recovering from acts of terrorism and other threats."
Who's responsible for security at a U.S. Olympics?
When major events like the Olympics are held in the United States, it's the the U.S. Secret Service that's in charge of security under the "National Special Security Event" designation, created after the deadly bombing at the 1996 Summer Games in Atlanta.
So security at the last Olympics in the U.S., the 2002 Winter Games in Utah, was overseen by the federal government. After the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the U.S., the federal funding for security was boosted significantly, to $240 million.
Federal dollars for security are not included in the privately funded, $4 billion budget for Utah's next Winter Games, in 2034. But the cost to the federal government could end up being close to $500 million, even at the same level of funding, due to inflation.
Fraser Bullock, president and executive chair of the Organizing Committee for the 2034 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, said it's too soon to say how much federal money can be expected for security, or for a spectator bus system, which received more than $100 million in 2002.
"That will be many years out before we get into that detail," Bullock said.
Utah's 'guarantee' that federal security funding is coming
Under the International Olympic Committee's new bid process, Utah was required to submit a number of financial guarantees from government entities, including 10 at the federal level, months before the 2034 Winter Games were awarded.
Bullock said one of the guarantees submitted was from the U.S. Homeland Security secretary under then-President Joe Biden, Alejandro Mayorkas, but did not refer specifically to federal funding.
He said Mayorkas did state in the document that should Salt Lake City, Utah, "be granted the honor to host the Games," he would designate them as a National Special Security Event, "as would be the case if the event were held in any other U.S. city."
That amounts to a "guarantee from the federal government that they will provide security for our Games," Bullock said. "The appropriations will come at some point in the future as we get closer to the Games."
He said the $1 billion earmarked in Trump's mega bill for the LA Games "is a notable step forward for them, so we're delighted about this outcome. The timing for them is really ideal. We're still about three years out. That gives them time to do their detailed planning."
