The Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games will become the largest broadcast operation ever attempted, Olympic Broadcasting Services (OBS) CEO Yiannis Exarchos said at IBC 2026, declaring that traditional production models “simply will not do” in the face of unprecedented scale, complexity and audience expectations.

Exarchos laid out the sheer magnitude of LA28: 12,000 athletes, 36 sports— four more than ever before — and over 14,000 hours of content.

With three years to go, he added, “We need to be closer to the action than ever… and who knows how many more ways of creating or distributing content will be refined by then.”

The Paris Games already delivered 11,000 hours of content, including 3,400 hours of competition, supported by 1,000 camera systems and 8,000 staff from 106 nations. LA28 will exceed all of these numbers.

To meet that demand, OBS is undergoing a major operational transformation centred on new technologies.

“Virtualisation, AI and cloud are vital,” Exarchos said, however, cautioning that technology alone is not enough. But to support them, “you have to go through massive change”.

The message was clear: scaling infrastructure and workflows is the only way to keep pace with the expanding ambitions of a global event.

In August, IBC had announced that its most prestigious honour, the International Honour for Excellence (IHFE), will be presented to Olympic Broadcasting Services, recognising the company’s decades of innovation in live sports production and its far-reaching impact on the global broadcast industry.

For decades, IBC said, OBS has set the benchmark for innovation in live sports production, consistently pushing the boundaries of what is technically possible.

Through pioneering developments in ultra-high-definition production, immersive audio, remote production workflows, artificial intelligence, cloud-based technologies and next-generation storytelling, OBS has transformed the way audiences around the world experience the Olympic Games, IBC statement had added.

Meanwhile, during his address at IBC 2026, Exarchos said one of the most striking shifts is the rise of viewers who do not follow sports at all.

“In Paris, we had close to five billion people following the Olympic Games through digital means,” he said, “There are not five billion sports fans in the world. More than half of those viewers are casual fans.”