USA Track & Field has chosen Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon, over the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum to host the 2028 U.S. Olympic Track and Field Trials, setting the selection meet for June 17-22, 2028 — a compressed six-day schedule that will run less than a month before the Olympic Games open in Los Angeles on July 14, 2028.
The decision, first reported by the Los Angeles Times, marks the ninth time the university town has staged the Trials and the sixth consecutive time Hayward Field has hosted the event since 2008. Eugene previously held the Trials in 1972, 1976 and 1980 before beginning its current unbroken streak, and the facility has also hosted the U.S. track nationals ten times, including the 2022 World Championships, according to the same report. USA Track & Field CEO Max Siegel said, in comments carried by the Times, that Eugene's record of success in selecting America's best track and field athletes speaks for itself.
Why L.A. Lost Out Again
The Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, which will host the actual 2028 Olympic track and field competition, was considered as a potential host for the Trials as well, per the Times' reporting. But holding the Trials in Los Angeles ran into issues with staging two major events in a short period, since the Coliseum needed to be ready for the Games themselves barely a month later.
That scheduling squeeze traces back to a bigger shift: the 2028 Games flipped the traditional Olympic calendar, placing track and field in the first week of competition rather than the second, as SwimSwam has reported. It will be the first Olympics to open with track since the 1968 Mexico City Games, according to the Times. That switch happened in part because SoFi Stadium needs several days after the July 14 Opening Ceremony to install temporary Olympic swimming pools, pushing swimming into week two.
A Shorter Trials, at Athletes' Request
The 2028 Trials will also run shorter than usual. Previous editions spanned eight days with two built-in rest days in the middle, but the new six-day format followed direct consultation with athletes seeking a more efficient selection process, according to an August 2026 USA Track & Field statement reported by NBC Sports. To make room in the calendar, selection for the decathlon, heptathlon and 10,000 meters will be excluded from the June meet entirely and instead held earlier in spring 2028 at a location that has not yet been determined, the Times reports. That earlier spring scheduling is intended to allow those athletes additional recovery time before the Games.
Eugene's metro area, with around 400,000 people, will once again absorb the crush of fans and athletes descending on a college town for the meet — something the region has done for nearly two decades. Hayward Field has earned the nickname Tracktown USA and will host the U.S. track nationals again in 2027, a dry run of sorts ahead of the Trials. Los Angeles isn't being shut out entirely, though: UCLA's Drake Stadium is serving as an Olympic training site as the region gears up to host the Games.
The Venue That Keeps Winning the Job
Hayward Field's staying power owes largely to a $270 million reconstruction completed between 2018 and 2020, financed entirely by private donors led by Nike co-founder Phil Knight, according to Business Insider. The rebuilt stadium seats 12,650 permanently and can expand to 25,000 for major championships. It is also one of only three Class 1 certified track and field facilities in the country recognized by World Athletics, alongside venues at Texas A&M and the University of Arkansas, per Wikipedia — a technical distinction that helps explain why USATF keeps returning.
The 2028 Trials weren't originally slated for Eugene at all. USATF had awarded the 2020 Olympic Trials to Mt. San Antonio College in Walnut, California, in 2017, only to strip the school of the meet in May 2018 after municipal and taxpayer lawsuits over stadium construction financing threatened the project's timeline, according to the Times of San Diego. Those 2020 Trials were ultimately moved to Eugene and held in 2021 at Hayward Field after the venue issues arose, establishing a pattern that has now repeated for 2028.
Fitting a Broader LA28 Playbook
The choice also fits a strategy LA28 organizers have leaned on repeatedly: reusing specialized, existing facilities outside Southern California rather than building new venues under tight deadlines. Hoodline has previously reported on Oklahoma City's $25.4 million softball facility built for the same reason — hosting Olympic softball and canoe slalom without new construction pressure on Los Angeles. That approach dovetails with the intense local stakes already surrounding the Games; regional planners estimate the 2028 Olympics could generate up to $17.6 billion in additional GDP across Southern California between 2024 and 2029, with LA28 targeting 75% local small business participation in its contracts.
Since 2008, U.S. athletes have won 52 gold medals in athletics at the Olympics, a track record the Times notes underscores why Hayward Field has become what the paper describes as America's only consistently viable host for big-time track events. Where exactly the decathlon, heptathlon and 10,000-meter selections will be held next spring remains an open question, one USATF has not yet answered publicly.
