The Olympic Federation of Ireland is turning to the strength and reach of the Irish-American community in the United States to help close a projected €2 million funding gap ahead of the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games.

With just over two years to go until the Games, the cost of sending and supporting an Irish Olympic team in California is now estimated at €4.1 million, a sharp increase on the €2.5 million bill for Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

Inflationary pressures, longer travel distances, and the sheer scale of staging a Games in the US have combined to push budgets higher across the Olympic movement.  There is also the desire to use Paris’s success not as a target for 2028 but as a benchmark on which to build.

Central to the push is the opportunity presented by the US charitable framework, where donors can contribute under 501(c)(3) regulations and benefit from tax relief. This is now complemented by legislative changes in Ireland that extend tax relief beyond capital projects to include performance programmes, widening the appeal to high-net-worth individuals and diaspora supporters.

“The €2 million, for me, is the bare minimum we need to operate,” said LA 2028 chef de mission Gavin Noble, who has already made four trips to Los Angeles since Paris to secure training bases and manage logistical planning. A former Olympian himself, Noble’s focus is firmly on the detail that underpins elite performance long before athletes arrive at the opening ceremony.

“Sometimes in Ireland, the hardest thing to talk about is performance,” he said. “But if we take our lead from athletes like Daniel Wiffen, Rhys McClenaghan and Jack Woolley, that’s what they’re getting up every morning to try and do. We shouldn’t be shy about it.”

The target then for LA is to come home with ten medals, three more than Paris, and part of how this will happen is to target support for those most likely to produce a performance that will put them in the frame for a podium finish.

Paris provided tangible evidence of how marginal gains can translate into podium finishes. OFI’s Make A Difference fund provided athletes such as Daniel Wiffen, Rhys McClenaghan and Rhasidat Adeleke with timely financial interventions, which, in Wiffen’s case, enabled him to have practical cooked meals to meet his energy demands throughout the day.

The OFI’s US engagement has begun in earnest, with officials already active in Boston. The East Coast, with its deep-rooted Irish communities, is an obvious focal point, but Chicago, San Francisco and Los Angeles itself are also central to the strategy.

OFI CEO Peter Sherrard believes the potential is significant, pointing to precedent from Irish sporting organisations such as Munster Rugby and the GAA, which have successfully engaged the diaspora. The difference this time is the clarity of the ask: targeted investment in Olympic performance with a defined outcome.

We also heard yesterday of the success of the Irish Sailing Foundation, a philanthropic body that delivered €500,000 to support performance programmes in that sport.  Irish Sailing is already established in LA, with a base made possible by philanthropy.

The Government’s support through Sport Ireland has increased over recent Olympic and Paralympic cycles, and commercial support from Allianz is also at a higher level for LA than for Paris.  Getting the mix right so that we are not wholly dependent on a single funding source, and being transparent with all parties about progress, success, and potential needs, will be key to a successful games.

It is a story and an approach we will return to regularly.

 

Sport for Business Perspective

What stands out in this strategy is how closely it mirrors best practice in elite sport systems globally. The OFI is not simply fundraising to cover a shortfall; it is articulating a clear return on investment, grounded in evidence, outcomes and elite performance. Engaging the Irish-American diaspora as partners rather than donors reflects a mature, international approach to sports philanthropy, and one that recognises that medals are won not just on the track, in the pool or on the court, but through sustained, well-funded preparation.

 


 

 

 

 

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