Olympic softball's divided experience: What playing in OKC instead of L.A. means for 2028 (2024)

When softball returns to the Olympics in 2028, it will include parallels to its inaugural appearance in the 1996 Games that stretch beyond the host country.

LA28 organizers unveiled an updated venue plan last month, which included softball and canoe slalom being staged in Oklahoma City, 1,300 miles from host city Los Angeles. The relocation may seem strange, but it is not necessarily an outlier. In the 1996 Atlanta Games, softball was hosted in Columbus, Ga., approximately 100 miles from the main site.

Still, softball’s two-time zone jump in 2028 trumps the two-hour drive that separated it in ’96, which has some Olympic athletes and coaches feeling hesitant about the altered experience.

“As good as the games are going to be, as great as the fans are in OKC, it’s not going to be an Olympic experience, which is so special and so rare,” said Nicole Mendes, an Oklahoma softball alumna who competed in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics with Mexico. “Honestly, it just made me really sad for these softball athletes.”

Los Angeles will host its third Olympics in 2028, but the city has never hosted softball: The 1932 and 1984 games predate softball’s Olympic introduction. Softball was a staple of the Summer Olympics from 1996 through 2008, but since then the sport was played only in the 2020 Tokyo Games (held in 2021 because of the pandemic). Softball is not on the docket for this summer’s Paris Olympics.

LA28 proposed the re-addition of softball in October 2023, and the International Olympic Committee voted in favor of the inclusion alongside baseball, lacrosse and cricket, plus the debut of flag football and squash.

“My worry is that it becomes out of sight, out of mind. But I guess, this day and age, with television and all of the things, it won’t appear to be that way,” said Natasha Watley, a two-time U.S. Olympian. “It will still be a part of the Olympic movement, and so it now boils down to the actual athletes’ experience. That to me is the priority.”

In a statement provided to The Athletic, LA28 emphasized its commitment to the Olympic experience, including the opening ceremony, for softball athletes.

“LA28 is in alignment with the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC), the International Canoe Federation (ICF) and the City of Oklahoma City to ensure that the athletes competing in events held in Oklahoma City will enjoy a memorable Olympic experience, including the opportunity to attend and experience the opening ceremony,” LA28 said.

Olympic organizers selected Devon Park, home of the Women’s College World Series, as the host site for the 2028 softball tournament. The IOC’s Olympic Agenda 2020+5 encourages the use of existing or temporary venues, even if they are located outside of the host city, which led organizers to OKC. Devon Park recently underwent a $27.5 million renovation to expand its capacity to 13,000 and is located inside the USA Softball Hall of Fame Complex. Many in the softball community dub the venue as “the mecca of softball.”

“There’s no better softball stadium in the United States to host an international tournament of that caliber,” said Ken Eriksen, a longtime Team USA assistant and head coach at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. “Then, you know, it’s kind of disappointing because the athletes are not going to get to experience what we experienced in 2004 and 2020 with being involved at the Olympic Village and the experiences that go on.

“Then lastly is the fact that once the competition starts, it’s about the games and it’s about winning the medals. So you’re going to have a trade-off. Once again, great venue — you’re going to miss the experiences, but then you’re playing for a gold medal.”

For as much as Oklahoma City has become a hub for elite softball, roots of the sport are planted out west, too. With 12 national titles, UCLA is the winningest softball program in Division I. Knowing the history of the sport in the region, Watley, a former Bruin All-American, was surprised about the change of location.

“To be quite honest, offended,” said Watley, a Los Angeles resident. “Softball wasn’t good enough, you know? That’s how I took it. It wasn’t good enough to have a return on their investment to invest in an already existing stadium, to build a new one, to make it happen, because I feel like there’s time.”

An LA28 spokesperson said the organization worked in collaboration with the WBSC and USA Softball to explore venues in Southern California, but “after assessing a dozen or so venues, it became clear that hosting the sport locally would require either a costly temporary build or retrofitting an existing baseball stadium, which would have led to a series of critical compromises affecting athletes and fans.” In 2020, softball was played at the same venue as baseball, which was converted to accommodate both sports. Sara Groenewegen, a 2020 Olympian with Team Canada, said the conversion worked.

“It actually was an awesome experience and we didn’t mind,” Groenewegen said. “It was honestly better than 100 percent of international softball fields I’ve played on. The only people I have heard complain about our Tokyo 2020 arrangements were the fans watching on TV about how strange it looked.”

The 2028 games will mark the first time in Olympic history that no new permanent venues will be built to host events.

“Do I think it would be that big of an issue to skin the infield grass at either Dodger Stadium or Angel Stadium? Is that a possibility? Yeah, that’s a possibility. But that costs money,” said Laura Berg, a Team USA assistant coach at the 2020 Games and four-time Olympic medalist. “So I just think the important thing is one, we’re in the Olympics and, two, making it the best possible experience for the athletes.”

The Atlanta Games were far from the only time an Olympic event was held outside of the host city. Portions of the basketball tournaments at this summer’s Paris Games will be played 100 miles away in Lille, while surfing will be held across the globe in Tahiti. Olympic soccer is played in a format more akin to a World Cup, with games played all around the host country rather than just the host city — in this summer’s Paris games, the tournament will be played at seven venues in seven cities.

In 1996, the athletes were close enough to attend the opening ceremony and had the option to watch other sports, but they stayed in an Olympic Village separate from the one in Atlanta.

“We focused on our sport, right? Our art, our gift, our focus,” said Dot Richardson, a team member that year and two-time Olympic gold medalist with Team USA. “Then in 2000, we were in the Olympic Village. I think in the village, it’s fun, you meet a lot of other players, but it also can be a distraction.”

Groenewegen said a driving factor for her attempting to play in the 2028 Games would be because of the altered Olympic experience in the 2020 Games when restrictions were put on fan attendance and athlete interaction because of the COVID-19 pandemic. With softball being played in Oklahoma City, that experience could again take on a different meaning.

“In all honesty, I am afraid that it is going to feel like just another international softball tournament, where the Olympics should feel a lot more than that,” Groenewegen said. “Softball deserves so much more. Why should we be happy for a crumb of an Olympic experience?”

No one aspect completely defines the Olympic experience. It’s not uncommon for teams to miss the opening ceremony if it lines up too closely to the start of competition — as was the case with 2004 Team USA softball in Athens. The Olympic Village inspires camaraderie among athletes, but the Games ultimately come down to a singular goal.

“At the Olympics, you’re there for one thing, you’re there to win gold,” Berg said. “These athletes will be kind of isolated and able to focus 100 percent on bringing gold back to the U.S.”

Selecting the 2028 Olympic roster is an ongoing process for USA Softball, and this month’s World Cup in Castions di Strada, Italy, will help set the stage. Once the 2028 Games roll around, the next question becomes: How does softball earn staying power on the world’s biggest stage?

Eriksen said separating the sport from baseball by not sharing a venue could be a step in the right direction.

“Softball needs to separate from going and doing everything with baseball,” Eriksen said, “because, in softball, you’re getting the best of the best players in the world going to that tournament. The Olympics in baseball, you’ve not had that because major leagues are going on at the same time and a lot of the teams and the players do not see that as the ultimate.

“If you continue to separate yourself from baseball, I think you have a better chance to stay in 2032, 2036 and so on, because the sport itself is really phenomenal.”

(Top photo: Tyler Schank / NCAA Photos via Getty Images)

Jayna Bardahl is a college football staff editor for The Athletic. She has worked as an editor and reporter covering Big Ten football and men's basketball, and was an intern at The Boston Globe, where she covered the Boston Red Sox and New England Patriots. Follow Jayna on Twitter @Jaynabardahl