By Jorge Casuso
December 19, 2025 -- The City Council on Tuesday took initial steps to host major events that will "put Santa Monica on the global stage" during the world's biggest sporting competitions.
The international events across the LA region -- which include the FIFA World Cup next summer, the 2027 Super Bowl and the 2028 Olympic Games -- are expected to provide an economic boon for the city's struggling economy.
Santa Monica's three prime destinations -- the Beach, Pier and Downtown -- will host sports watch parties, major activations and entertainment events, including the kick-off next fall of a yearly music festival by the Pier.
The events are a key component of a "realignment plan" to kick-start a local economy that has been struggling and to generate revenues for a City government that has been depleting its cash reserves to stay afloat.
In what City officials called "a monumental moment" the Council on Tuesday approved partnering with private entities on five major events that will "activate the city, attract business investment and foster economic opportunity and growth."
The largest-scale event will be the new one-day music and cultural festival on Santa Monica’s coastline expected to draw between 30,000 to 35,000 attendees along the sand adjacent to Pier.
The annual fall festival in partnering with Goldenvoice, one of the nation’s leading producers of large-scale music events, will feature 12 to 15 musical artists.
The event also offers "curated food and beverages, festival and artist merchandise, art installations, partnership activations, and guest services such as restrooms, lockers, and water stations," City officials said.
Other major events include the Michelob ULTRA Pitchside Club on the Pier timed to coincide with the kickoff of the FIFA World Cup next June and an ESPN fan festival and broadcast presence on the Pier and beach in February 2027.
During the 2028 Summer Olympics in LA, Club France, the official hospitality house of the French Olympic Committee will host its events at the Annenberg Community Beach House.
In addition, the Austrian agency Hochsitz will erect the Santa Monica Nations Village, which includes a satellite broadcast center and two hospitality houses, on portions of Crescent Bay Park and Beach Parking Lot 4 South in Ocean Park.
“The next few years are a defining opportunity to showcase Santa Monica at its best, from our beach and Pier to the heart of our downtown along our iconic coastline,” said Mayor Caroline Torosis.
“This is exactly what our Realignment Plan was designed to do," she said. "We are ushering in Santa Monica’s Renaissance by delivering results, revitalizing our core, and setting the city up for its next chapter. Our best days are ahead.”
A dedicated City events team led by the City Manager's Office "has worked strategically over the past few years and most intensely over recent months to attract these major activations," City officials said.
All event producers will pay a fee for property rental, city services, security and traffic planning and "will not receive any subsidy from the city, a result of a new pricing model for major events developed by the City team."
Tuesday’s Council actions pave the way for City staff to begin negotiating final terms, including rent and design approvals, and "bring formal licensing agreements back for council approval," officials said.
"As staff refine these agreements, the focus will be on ensuring they provide meaningful community benefits such as free public programming, strong economic returns, local hiring, and inclusion of Santa Monica businesses."
The negotiations come after Santa Monica's dream of hosting beach volleyball was dashed in April after the City and LA28, the organizing committee for the 2028 Games, failed to reach a deal ("Santa Monica Won't Host Beach Volleyball at 2028 Olympic Games," April 8, 2025).
The proposed agreement did not spell out "potential financial and legal risks," the scope of services -- including security -- the City would have to provide or the level of reimbursement for those services, staff told the Council.
It also prevented the City from hosting public and private events on the Pier and could shut businesses on the popular venue, opening the City to legal claims, staff said.