EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
AECOM was named the Official Venue Infrastructure Partner for the LA28 Olympic and Paralympic Games on March 14, 2025. The partnership gives AECOM responsibility for architecture, engineering, planning, program management, and construction management across LA28's entire venue infrastructure program, which will span 50+ sports, 800+ events, and more than 15,000 athletes.
The deal is structurally distinct from most Olympic sponsorships. LA28's venue strategy relies entirely on temporary venues and temporary overlays on existing permanent venues, with no new permanent construction. AECOM's role is to make that approach work at scale, leveraging more than 2,000 professionals in the Southern California area. The company's AECOM Hunt business will oversee procurement, cost estimating, scheduling, and construction management.
AECOM brings a deep track record in Olympic infrastructure, having contributed to London 2012, Rio 2016, and Tokyo 2020. With a combined design and construction portfolio of more than 150 stadiums and arenas, it is arguably the most credentialed firm for this scope.
1. OLYMPIC HISTORY & MARKETING PRESENCE
1.1 Partnership Timeline & Evolution
AECOM's Olympic involvement spans multiple Games cycles, though primarily as an infrastructure and design services provider rather than a consumer-facing marketing partner.
London 2012 AECOM led the multidisciplinary team that created the vision and strategy for London's Olympic Park, one of the largest urban regeneration projects in UK history. The firm's scope included town planning, urban design, landscape design, sports and venue design, project and cost management, transportation planning, civil engineering, sustainability, and climate resilience. Legacy was embedded from the start, and the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park has been widely cited as a model for post-Games venue repurposing.
Rio 2016 AECOM contributed to venue and infrastructure delivery. The approach involved contracts let at the peak of economic conditions, and the post-Games legacy has been widely viewed as disappointing compared to London.
Tokyo 2020 (held 2021) Continued involvement in sports infrastructure delivery, though the scope was more limited than London given Tokyo's reliance on existing venues and the pandemic context.
Milano Cortina 2026 No announced AECOM involvement in the 2026 Winter Games.
1.2 Signature Programs
AECOM's Olympic work is operational rather than consumer-facing. The firm does not run traditional sponsorship activations or athlete ambassador programs. Its brand visibility comes through the built environment itself and industry-facing communications about project delivery.
2. LA28-SPECIFIC INITIATIVES
2.1 Announced Plans & Positioning
AECOM's LA28 scope is comprehensive:
- Architecture and Engineering: Deliver all LA28 venues, including temporary structures and overlays on existing facilities like SoFi Stadium, the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, and others across the LA metro area
- Program Management: Oversee the full venue infrastructure program from planning through delivery
- Construction Management: AECOM Hunt handles procurement, cost estimating, scheduling, and on-site construction management
- Temporary Infrastructure Focus: The entire approach maximizes reuse and avoids permanent construction, a defining feature of LA28's bid and a departure from most prior Games
The partnership positions AECOM at the center of LA28's operational delivery, making it one of the most functionally critical partners in the Games.
LA28 Venue Specifics: The dual-venue Opening Ceremony (LA Memorial Coliseum and SoFi Stadium, announced May 2025) requires AECOM to coordinate temporary infrastructure across two ceremony sites simultaneously. SoFi Stadium will be reconfigured for swimming in Week 2 (38,000-seat temporary configuration, the largest swimming venue in Olympic history). Athletics moves to Week 1 at the Coliseum, which will host the Closing Ceremony and earn the distinction of being the first venue in history to host events at three Olympic Games (1932, 1984, 2028). LA28 announced a first-of-its-kind venue naming rights program in August 2025, with named venues including Intuit Dome (basketball), Honda Center (volleyball), Comcast Squash Center at Universal Studios (squash), and Peacock Theater (weightlifting/boxing). Soccer venues in six cities nationwide (New York, Columbus, Nashville, St. Louis, San Jose, San Diego) extend AECOM's scope beyond the LA metro. AECOM works alongside Sunbelt Rentals (temporary equipment supply) and Autodesk (design software) in delivering this infrastructure program.
2.2 Regulatory/Market Context
LA28's no-new-permanent-venues approach is both a philosophical choice and a practical necessity given LA's complex permitting environment. AECOM's temporary infrastructure expertise reduces regulatory friction compared to permanent construction while also delivering on LA28's sustainability messaging. The approach also compresses the timeline risk that has plagued prior Games (Rio, Athens) where permanent venues were delivered late.
3. EXECUTIVE LEADERSHIP & DECISION-MAKERS
3.1 C-Suite Leadership
- W. Troy Rudd: Chairman and Chief Executive Officer (CEO since August 2020, became Chairman in 2025). Previously CFO; joined AECOM in 2009 after 10 years as a partner at KPMG.
- Lara Poloni: President
- Gaurav Kapoor: Chief Financial & Operations Officer
- David Gan: Chief Legal Officer
3.2 Olympic Partnership Leadership
Not publicly disclosed. Given the operational nature of the partnership, the LA28 relationship likely reports through AECOM's project delivery leadership rather than a dedicated sponsorship team.
3.3 Board Members with Relevant Experience
Not specifically identified in public filings related to sports infrastructure or Olympic governance.
4. AGENCY & CREATIVE PARTNERS
4.1 Agency Model
AECOM is a B2B infrastructure firm. Its marketing is primarily corporate communications, investor relations, and project-specific case studies rather than consumer-facing advertising. The LA28 partnership does not involve traditional creative activations in the way that consumer brands execute.
4.2 Known Agency/Partner Relationships
Not publicly disclosed in the context of Olympic marketing. AECOM's communications are handled primarily through corporate PR and investor relations functions.
4.3 Notable Creative Executions
AECOM's LA28 page (aecom.com/la28games/) serves as the primary public-facing asset for the partnership, emphasizing the firm's track record and the technical challenge of temporary infrastructure at Olympic scale.
5. COMPETITIVE POSITIONING
5.1 Market Share & Competitive Landscape
AECOM is one of the world's largest infrastructure consulting firms ($16.1 billion FY2025 revenue). Key competitors include Jacobs ($16.4 billion), WSP ($14.4 billion CAD), Arcadis, and Bechtel. In the sports infrastructure space specifically, AECOM competes with Populous, HOK, and Gensler for design work, though few competitors match AECOM's combined design, engineering, and construction management capabilities. None of these competitors hold Olympic sponsorships.
Cross-Sponsor Infrastructure Dynamics: AECOM's venue infrastructure role creates direct operational intersections with Sunbelt Rentals (equipment solutions), Autodesk (design software), and Cisco (venue networking). AECOM designs and manages the build-out; Sunbelt provides the heavy equipment, power, and HVAC; Autodesk provides the design and planning software; Cisco provides the networking infrastructure. Together, these four companies form the physical and digital backbone of LA28's temporary venue program.
5.2 Olympic Sponsorship Differentiation
AECOM's position is unique among LA28 partners. It is not paying for brand visibility in the traditional sponsorship sense; it is providing mission-critical services that the Games cannot function without. AECOM has delivered infrastructure for three prior Olympic Games (London 2012, Rio 2016, and Tokyo 2020), giving it institutional experience that no competitor can match. This creates a fundamentally different relationship than consumer-facing sponsors.
5.3 Key Brand Messaging
- Professional services leader in infrastructure delivery
- Track record across three prior Olympic Games
- Expertise in temporary and overlay infrastructure at scale
- 2,000+ Southern California professionals positioned for LA28 delivery
- Portfolio of 150+ stadiums and arenas globally
6. KEY METRICS & BUSINESS CONTEXT
6.1 Financial Performance
- FY2024 Revenue: $16.1 billion
- FY2025 Revenue: $16.14 billion (0.21% YoY increase)
- FY2025 Adjusted EBITDA Growth: 10% YoY
- FY2025 Adjusted EPS Growth: 16% YoY
- Design Backlog: $23.4 billion (vs. $22.8 billion in FY2024)
- Win Rate on Largest Pursuits: 80%
- Segment Adjusted Operating Margin: 17.1% (exceeded long-term 17% target more than one year ahead of schedule)
- Consecutive Quarters with Book-to-Burn >1: 20
6.2 Olympic Period Performance
As an infrastructure and services partner rather than a consumer brand, AECOM's Olympic-period performance is measured through project delivery rather than consumer-facing metrics. The LA28 engagement will likely contribute to backlog and revenue over multiple fiscal years leading up to 2028.
APPENDIX: KEY SOURCES
Official Sources
- AECOM LA28 Page: aecom.com/la28games/
- AECOM Press Release: aecom.com/press-releases/aecom-named-official-venue-infrastructure-partner-for-the-los-angeles-2028-olympic-and-paralympic-games/
- LA28 Announcement: la28.org/en/newsroom/aecom-named-official-venue-infrastructure-partner-for-la28.html
- AECOM Investor Relations: investors.aecom.com
Industry Analysis
- Construction Dive: AECOM tapped as Los Angeles Olympics infrastructure partner
- The Sports Examiner: Design and engineering giant AECOM joins LA28
- New Civil Engineer: Aecom named venue infrastructure partner for LA28
Financial Filings
- AECOM FY2025 Annual Report
- AECOM FY2024 Earnings Release
- MacroTrends ACM Historical Revenue Data
End of Research Brief