LA Marathon will move its 2026 race date to accommodate the Oscars

News that next year’s Los Angeles Marathon and Oscars were double booked for March 15 caused a headache for the organizers of both events, but a solution was reached Thursday and the marathon has agreed to change dates.

The 98th Oscars will be held as originally scheduled, according to a statement issued by the Los Angeles Marathon and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. The McCourt Foundation, which organizes the marathon, will announce a new March date for the race in the coming days.

In return, the academy said, in future years it will honor the marathon’s tradition of hosting the run on the third Sunday in March. The two organizations brokered the agreement with the assistance of Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and agreed to work together to promote each other’s events “to benefit the greater Los Angeles community,” according to the statement.

Murphy Reinschreiber, chief operating officer of the McCourt Foundation, told The Times that it would be logistically impossible to hold both events on the same day.

The Oscars is hosted at the Dolby Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard, which is along the marathon route. It’s simply not feasible for thousands of runners and spectators to pass the theater and then have the area cleaned up and ready to host a red carpet event a few hours later, he said. Both events also require significant road closures, law enforcement deployment and are broadcast by KTLA.

The Los Angeles Marathony typically involves 25,000 runners, thousands of volunteers, medical personnel, law enforcement and city workers.

(Ringo Chiu / For The Times)

The McCourt Foundation announced its 2026 marathon date on March 15 this year. Two days later, the academy published a news release announcing that the 2026 Oscars was also scheduled on March 15.

Reinschreiber was driving home after finishing cleaning up this year’s marathon, eager to rest after successfully executing the huge sporting event, when he learned of the double booking.

“It was confusing and the other thought that went to my mind is there are just no days off in this business,” he said. “It’s one thing after the other.”

Moving a marathon is no easy feat. The event spans a massive chunk of the city and involves more than 25,000 runners, thousands of volunteers, medical personnel, law enforcement and city workers.

“There are two major facilities — Dodger Stadium and Century City — connected by what’s really a 26-mile stage, and the number of people, communities and businesses that are all impacted by a change of date is mind-boggling,” he said. “We are going to have to undergo a significant community awareness program.”

More than 5,000 people have registered for the 2026 Marathon, and they will need to be offered the option of a refund due to the change in date, he said.

While the marathon is typically held on the third Sunday in March, there have been exceptions.

In 2009, it was moved to Memorial Day to reduce disruptions to Sunday churchgoers. It was moved back to March the following year based on community feedback. In 2016, it was held Feb.14, a Sunday, to coincide with the U.S. Olympic Marathon Trials. Then, in 2021, the event was postponed until November because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Oscars’ date has traditionally been more flexible.