The official logo for the Los Angeles Olympics is… whatever you’d like it to be.
The host committee on Tuesday unveiled its look for the 2028 Summer Games. The main LA28 logo allows for an interchangeable A, one that organizers hope will drive an innovative approach to merchandise like t-shirts and bags.
The design lets anyone put their own stamp on the logo. The group unveiled a set of 26 examples—created by celebrities like iconic Olympic sprinter Michael Johnson and Oscar winner Reese Witherspoon. Casey Wasserman, the LA 2028 chairperson, said he wants to create a portal where fans can design and buy their own.
“I hope our consumer products people aren’t listening because my answer, and where I want us to be, is true individuality to make your own Olympic logo,” Wasserman said. “You can buy [nine-time Olympic medalist] Allyson Felix’s A, or you can buy [pop star] Billie Eilish’s A, or [paralympian] Lex Gillette’s A, or you can make your own. Over time that’s where we’d like to get to, and really have the possibilities to be limitless.”
That’d be a relatively novel approach to licensed merchandise, one that will likely take time to build out. Thankfully, the host committee has a lot of it. The games aren’t for another eight years, an unusually long run-up for a city to prepare.
For now, the group is selling Nike product featuring some of the designs through its online store. Full customization, if it comes, will happen at a later date.
The Olympic movement is notoriously strict about intellectual property. The host committee, for example, worked with both its own copyright team and the IOC’s to trademark the A’s it will use for most commercial purposes. Wasserman added that now might be a good time for the Olympics to re-think its tight grip over trademarks.
“The days of command and control are over,” he said. “And the days of engagement and co-creation are upon us.”
