For seven years, the promise of the 2028 Summer Olympics has shimmered on the horizon as a source of pride and celebration for Los Angeles. There were concerns: the homelessness crisis, cost overruns, comparisons with the successful Games last year in Paris. But for the most part, 2028 held out the hope of delivering as much of a boost for the region’s economy and international image as the Olympics of 1984.
That has all been called into question in the space of a week.
The fires that have ripped across the region have presented Los Angeles with a challenge that would test the bandwidth and resources of any city: how to host a 17-day, $7 billion spectacle expected to draw as many as 15 million visitors to a region of 18 million people, all while rebuilding entire neighborhoods erased by fire.
No one is suggesting that the Games be postponed or canceled in response to the fires. But there is rising concern that an already difficult endeavor for both Los Angeles, the main host city, and LA2028, the private committee in charge of raising most of the money and running the Games, has become staggeringly complicated.
Mike Bonin, a former City Council member who voted in support of the Olympics when the effort came before the Los Angeles governing body for approval in 2017, said the wildfires posed a “nightmare scenario.”
“It calls into question the city’s ability to deliver the Olympics,” he said in an interview. “This is cause for elected officials to ask themselves the question: Is this something we can handle?”
Across the region, people are staggered by the scope of unceasing destruction. Many have lost homes and possessions, or fled in the middle of the night in the face of mandatory evacuations. They have followed the tragedy unfolding not only on television, but by the glow of not-too-distant blazes and smoke-darkened skies, and the wail of fire engine sirens.
When the Summer Games take place in July 2028, officials say, Los Angeles will still be immersed in rebuilding what was destroyed: homes, businesses, offices, places of worship, municipal buildings and parks.
The Games are to take place at nearly 50 venues spread out across a vast territory, from Temecula to the San Fernando Valley. Even before the prospect of enormous reconstruction projects, there were concerns about the logistics of moving huge crowds across a region overrun by traffic and with a transit system that remains, to a significant extent, a work in progress.
Now, Los Angeles confronts the unexpected expenses of millions of dollars in overtime payments to firefighters and police officers, on top of the costs of repairing or rebuilding city-owned structures.
The organizing committee is responsible for raising the estimated $7 billion budget for staging the Games, drawing on revenues from ticket sales, sponsorships and contributions from the International Olympic Committee.
But under the Olympic contract approved by the Los Angeles City Council, the city is responsible for the first $270 million of any cost overrun. (California would pick up the next $270 million, and any further overrun would revert to Los Angeles’s responsibility.)
Donald J. Trump’s victory in November left city and Olympic officials apprehensive about how much they will be able to turn to Washington for help, particularly for the completion of a multibillion-dollar transit expansion that Los Angeles officials promised the Olympic Committee would be ready before the first athletes arrive in the summer of 2028.
Officials said there was one reason for solace, given what is now expected to be a shortage of construction workers in the coming years: Nearly all of the events are taking place in existing buildings, from the Rose Bowl in Pasadena to the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.
Still, the situation remains volatile: The fire so far has spared stadiums and other Olympic venues. But the U.C.L.A. campus in Westwood is planned to house the Olympic Village, and as of this week, as the fires moved east, possible evacuations loomed.
Jadrian Wooten, a professor at Virginia Tech who has studied the economics of sports, said the central question in the months and years ahead would be “how much of the city’s resources will be devoted to revitalizing areas for the Olympics versus responding to destruction from future wildfires.”
“Balancing those two priorities will be critical in determining whether L.A. has both the money and the capacity to handle an event of this scale alongside wildfire response,” he said.
Casey Wasserman, the chairman of LA2028, said in a statement that he was confident Los Angeles would rally from the wildfires and that they would not undercut the Olympics. “Los Angeles is defined by its resilience and determination,” he said. “The strength of our communities and our unity in tough times make this city extraordinary, and when Los Angeles welcomes the world in 2028, our spirit will shine brighter than ever before.”
A number of city officials said they were reluctant to talk about the future of the Olympics because they were overwhelmed by dealing with the crisis, as well as to avoid appearing callous.
Asked if the city was concerned about how the fires would affect its staging of the Olympics, Gabby Maarse, a spokeswoman for Mayor Karen Bass, said Ms. Bass was now “laser-focused on keeping Angelenos safe and protecting property.”
To be sure, Emmanuel Macron, the president of France, oversaw the rebuilding of the Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris in five years, just as he promised. And Los Angeles leaders — including those who have lived through earthquakes, wildfires and riots over the past 30 years — said they were confident the city would rebound to mount a well-run Summer Games.
“I’ve seen it; I’ve seen what people can do,” said Wendy Greuel, a former city controller and leader of the City Council, who evacuated from her own home over the weekend. “The Olympics are a positive for this region, and we should ensure not only that they are able to happen, but that they will help to lift us literally from the ashes with the goal of rebuilding this city.”
Los Angeles is also set to be a host for the World Cup in 2026 and for the Super Bowl in 2027. But both events, by their nature, are seen as unlikely to strain Los Angeles as much as the Olympics, which will hold competitions in a multitude of venues over a fortnight.
Right-wing commentators, who have long been critical of California, wasted little time seizing on the fires as evidence that Los Angeles should not be allowed to stage the Olympics on its own. “There’s no way we can showcase L.A. to the world,” Jesse Watters said Friday on Fox News, as the other half of the screen showed an aerial shot of Los Angeles burning. “A full federal takeover is needed.” He added: “Martial law might have to be declared.”
Opponents of holding the Olympics in Los Angeles said the fires made their objections even more acute. “We simply cannot afford to put public money, city staff’s time and energy, and infrastructure development into a global party-cum-TV show while we respond to this crisis,” said Eric Sheehan, a leaders of NOlympics LA, an organization that has opposed the Games.
Zev Yaroslavsky, a former longtime member of the county Board of Supervisors, whose district included the Pacific Palisades, said the city faced unprecedented and conflicting demands in the years ahead.
“This should be a great event for the city and the world to see the city,” he said. “But what we cannot to allow to happen is for the Olympics to take away the government’s attention from the most important thing, which is to rebuild after the fire.”
“We are a resilient city,” he said. “We are a resilient region. We are a resilient state. But it’s going to be a challenge.”
Yet some officials and outside analysts argued that the Olympics could prove an opportunity.
“People will want to come to be part of the rebuilding process,” John Rennie Short, a professor emeritus at the School of Public Policy at the University of Maryland, said by email. “Moreover, the Games could become part of what I will call the ‘narrative of renewal,’ as city boosters will use the Games as a way to focus local, national and international attention on urban renewal, the ‘new’ Los Angeles and the compelling image of a city emerging from the ashes.”
Gov. Gavin Newsom, the California Democrat whom Mr. Trump has been subjecting to frequent attack, suggested that the new president might eventually see a benefit in coming to Los Angeles’s aid. Mr. Trump, during his first term, had played a role in bringing the Olympics to the United States, he said.
“This is an opportunity for him to shine, for this country to shine, for California and this community to shine,” Mr. Newsom said Sunday on “Meet the Press.” He said the Games, along with the Super Bowl and World Cup, would offer the world an opportunity to rally behind Los Angeles and provide the city an opportunity to “rebuild at the same time.”
And Joe Buscaino, a former City Council member, said he envisioned “the recovery from this fire being celebrated during the Olympics — a testament to the resilience and ingenuity of our region.”
“I remember as a fourth grader in 1984, everyone was so excited about hosting the Olympics then,” Mr. Buscaino said. “This is what we wanted for 2028.”
