A Conversation With Sam Morrissey: Looking Forward to the LA28 Games

On Wednesday, September 11th, USC ITE hosted Sam Morrissey, Vice President of Transportation at the LA 28 Games. With the recent 2024 Paris Games wrapping up, many eyes turned to LA. Los Angeles will be the third city in the world, joining London and Paris, to host the Games for the third time–a historically significant moment. However, many transportation enthusiasts (including us here at USC ITE!) are concerned about how LA will handle transportation to and from the Games, especially given the prominent car culture in SoCal. A graduate of USC’s MBA program, Mr. Morrissey returned to USC to share how LA28 plans to tackle transportation and perhaps change the way Angelenos think about getting around our city. 

Mr. Morrissey grew up surrounded by transportation all his life, eventually leading him to attend Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Mr. Morrissey helped design and implement transportation plans for the historical Woodstock ‘99 concert in Rome, New York. He also spent time in Santa Monica as a City Traffic Engineer and Manager of Parking and Traffic where he oversaw all parking and transportation-related projects. Most recently, he has joined the LA 28 team as the Vice President of Transportation. All in all, Mr. Morrissey has worked in transportation for nearly 25 years! 

Uniquely, Mr. Morrissey chose to pursue an MBA at USC over obtaining an MPA. Mr. Morrisey explained that his MBA allowed him to see the field of transportation in a more interdisciplinary way. Additionally, he refined his personnel management and problem-solving skills and developed a new perspective on how to tackle issues. 

With everybody’s eyes on LA for the Games, Mr. Morrissey’s team must ensure all athletes, judges, media, and other Games personnel make it to their destination safely and on time. Games will be “public transit” oriented, with cars taking a backseat in the Games. By utilizing LA’s pre-existing infrastructure and filling where more service is needed, the LA28 Transportation team can cut costs on building new routes. The LA28 Transportation team also plans on leveraging the many transit agencies in the greater LA region to supplement demand. Obviously, there will be many difficulties with building new infrastructure and ensuring policy will be faithfully executed to serve attendees of the Games. But more importantly, Mr. Morrissey hopes the LA28 Games will fundamentally change how Angelenos view public transportation. Perhaps instead of hopping into their cars to go to Dodger Stadium and inevitably getting stuck in traffic, Angelenos will take the Union Station Dodger Stadium shuttle to see their favorite team win. The transit and networks built for the Games can improve commute times and overall public sentiment around LA’s public transit.