A stadium that will not exist in 2029
Every Olympic beach volleyball venue is temporary. Atlanta built one in 1996 and took it down. Sydney built one on Bondi Beach over the objections of a good portion of Bondi. Paris put one at the foot of the Eiffel Tower in 2024 and dismantled it three weeks later.
Alamitos Beach Stadium will be the same: seating, courts, broadcast infrastructure and hospitality assembled on public sand in the months before July 2028, then removed.
That is not a criticism. It is the defining characteristic of the venue, and it is why this one is worth paying attention to. The sand it is built on is sand you can play on today.
Where it is
Alamitos Beach occupies the western end of Long Beach's shoreline, bounded roughly by Junipero Avenue to the east, Alamitos Boulevard and Shoreline Drive to the west, 4th Street to the north and Ocean Boulevard to the south. Downtown Long Beach sits directly inland.
It is a wide, flat, south-facing beach, which matters more than it sounds. Beach volleyball needs deep sand, room for a stadium footprint plus warm-up courts, and predictable sun. A narrow or steeply graded beach cannot host a Games.
Long Beach is doing considerable work for LA28 beyond volleyball. Handball is at the Long Beach Arena, and rowing, canoe, swimming and other events are scheduled across the city. Alamitos Beach also hosts blind football during the Paralympics.
What gets built
LA28 has not published full specifications, and anything circulating that claims exact seat counts should be treated carefully. What is known from the pattern of previous Games:
- A centre court stadium with temporary grandstand seating, typically 12,000 to 17,000 for an Olympic beach venue
- Secondary competition courts running simultaneously during pool play
- Warm-up and training courts away from the broadcast footprint
- Athlete facilities, media compound, and spectator concourse
Sand for Olympic beach volleyball is specified rather than simply scooped up. The FIVB sets requirements for grain size, composition and depth, and venues routinely import or screen sand to meet them. Whether Alamitos Beach's existing sand qualifies or gets supplemented is one of the more interesting unanswered questions about the venue.
What is there now
This is the part most Olympic coverage will skip.
Alamitos Beach is a functioning public beach with public volleyball courts, and it has been for decades. So is the entire Long Beach shoreline running east toward Belmont Shore. Nets go up, games happen, nobody checks credentials.
There are more than thirty approved court locations in Long Beach in our directory, carrying roughly thirty nets between them. Some are permanent installations with fixed posts. Others are bring-your-own-net sand.
If you want to play where the Olympic tournament will be, you do not need to wait for 2028 and you do not need a ticket. You need a ball and three other people.
Getting there
Alamitos Beach is walkable from downtown Long Beach. The Metro A Line runs from downtown Los Angeles to Long Beach, and the Long Beach Transit system covers the shoreline. Parking exists along Ocean Boulevard and in downtown structures, and it will be considerably harder in July 2028.
The 1984 comparison people are not making
Los Angeles hosted the Games in 1984, four years before beach volleyball existed as an Olympic sport and twelve before it debuted. There is no 1984 beach venue to compare against.
Indoor volleyball is a different story. The United States men won gold at Los Angeles in 1984, and indoor volleyball returns to Southern California in 2028 at the Honda Center in Anaheim. Our indoor sibling No Sand Required covers that side.
What to watch for
Between now and 2028, the things that will actually change:
- Venue specifications, when LA28 publishes seating and court layout
- The session schedule, which determines how many days of play there are and when
- Ticketing, which runs through registered draws rather than open sale
- Construction timeline, and what beach access looks like during build-out
Independent coverage. Not affiliated with LA28, the IOC, FIVB, or USA Volleyball. Venue and schedule details from LA28 and FIVB announcements as of August 2026; verify current details at la28.org.