This equates to about 83,000 jobs \u2014 mostly hospitality and event planning \u2014 as well as $726 million in state and local taxes. It\u2019s a fast growing market, previously valued at $11.7 billion in 2024, and $8.9 billion in 2023, according<\/a> to the economic firm.<\/p>\n Researchers attribute growth to recent success of the Los Angeles Dodgers, the sale of the Los Angeles Lakers and the race to bring pro football back to the Southland with the Los Angeles Rams and Chargers. Annual events that include the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach were also factored in the study.<\/p>\n Long Beach can capitalize on its reputation for athletic achievement, such as its national champion Long Beach State men\u2019s volleyball team, or the fact that Poly High sends more athletes to the NFL than any high school in the nation.\u00a0Wilson High School athletes haven\u2019t missed an Olympics since 1952.<\/p>\n New events are also set to make their U.S. debut<\/a> in Long Beach, including KASSO, the cult Japanese skateboarding game show next year.<\/p>\n The city\u2019s professional soccer team won a league championship<\/a> last October, while its newly formed independent league baseball team<\/a> held tryouts on Thursday<\/a>. Blair Field, the home of the new team, is expected to enter into an agreement<\/a> soon to allow for renovations.<\/p>\n Paul Freedman, the founding partner of the newly formed Long Beach Baseball Club, said the city already has a larger economy than half the league cities in Major League Baseball.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re larger than a lot of cities like Anaheim and New Orleans and St. Louis, and with the size of Atlanta,\u201d Freedman said. \u201cWe\u2019re larger than many of these cities that have teams, (like) Cincinnati. We can handle a major league baseball team.\u201d<\/p>\n Whether to know if a city is ready for a sports team depends a lot on who wears the local merch.<\/p>\n \u201cIs it the tourists that rep the town or is it the locals who rep the town?\u201d Freedman asked. \u201cWhen you see a place where it\u2019s the locals who rep the town, they have so much pride and ownership that they want to tell everybody they\u2019re from Long Beach, you know that that\u2019s a sports town.\u201d<\/p>\n Arguably the greatest determinant will be the city\u2019s handling of the 2028 Olympic Games.<\/p>\n The city is expected to host 11 Olympic events and seven Paralympic events, making it the largest host city outside Los Angeles.<\/p>\n John Harper, the chief operating officer with LA28, said the Games are \u201cthe biggest, most ambitious event in the world, the largest peacetime gathering.\u201d<\/p>\n Organizers expect to sell 15 million tickets regionally, as 15,000 athletes from more than 200 countries compete in 51 disciplines across 30 days of competition. It will be like hosting \u201cseven Super Bowls a day,\u201d Harper said, for the first 16 days.<\/p>\n How cities use that air time \u2014 roughly 3,000 hours of live television \u2014 will make or break a long-term career in the sporting starlight.<\/p>\n
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<\/a>John Harper of LA28 Olympics on a discussion panel for the State of Business in Long Beach, Friday, Dec. 5, 2025. Photo by Thomas R. Cordova.<\/p>\n