Los Angeles is close to reaching an agreement with the US Olympic Committee (USOC) to be America’s candidate for the 2024 Summer Games.
Pledging to host the event at a projected cost of approximately $4 billion, city officials are offering a guarantee that LA would cover any financial overruns.
Mayor Eric Garcetti told the Los Angeles Times on Monday, August 10 that he is pushing his effort to secure LA’s slot as the US host bidder. The opportunity opened up unexpectedly last month after Boston, which the USOC chose as a host city over LA in January, expectedly backed out amid officials’ concerns about the financial risk associated with hosting the Games.
“I think it is right for this city. I think it’s who we are,” Garcetti said. “I think we benefit from it economically, socially.”
Garcetti and sports agent Casey Wasserman, who has been heavily involved in preparing LA’s Olympic bid, said the city’s proposal would be “dead on arrival” if it did not include a promise to bear expenses from cost overruns or revenue shortfalls.
The city’s initial proposal also stressed economic efficiency, with events held throughout the city, many at existing venues such as Staples Center and the renovated Pauley Pavilion at UCLA.
Boston Mayor Martin Walsh admitted his reluctance to make such a promise shortly before his city’s bid collapsed two weeks ago.
“This is a commitment that I can’t make without ensuring the city and its residents will be protected…I cannot commit to putting the taxpayers at risk,” Walsh said on July 27. “If committing to signing a guarantee is what’s required to move forward, then Boston is no longer pursuing the Olympic and Paralympic Games.”
Meanwhile, Garcetti said that while he cannot promise that the Olympics would not ultimately entail a cost for LA, he anticipates that the city would make a profit, in part because it could use many existing venues from the 1984 Summer Games rather than paying to build new ones.
“I cannot eliminate risk,” Garcetti said Monday, adding, “On the one-to-five hot scale, one being the coldest, my personal assessment, for what it’s worth, is about a one.”
The roughly $4-billion cost projection does not include a $400-million contingency fund, which would bring the Games’ overall budget to about $4.5 billion for the city. Garcetti and Wasserman said they would need to check with USOC officials before releasing a detailed breakdown of their anticipated budget.
The International Olympic Committee typically makes a large contribution to offset the event’s cost. For the 2016 Summer Games in Rio, that amount will be roughly $1.5 billion.
Garcetti said Monday that his city is still negotiating some details with the USOC, which must make a decision about a new host city by mid-September. Applications for 2024 bid cities are due to the International Olympic Committee by September 15.
When asked whether the opportunity was LA’s if the city wanted it, Garcetti replied, “I believe so.”
Potential host cities have until mid-September to submit an official application to the International Olympic Committee. Rome, Paris, Budapest, and Hamburg, Germany, have already declared their intentions to bid. Following the success of the Pan American Games in July, Toronto also plans to enter the field.
The entire selection process will stretch over two years of preparations and meetings before the IOC will choose an official host city in summer 2017. From there, the chosen city would be expected to sign a guarantee to cover cost overruns and make sure the Games would be held in time.
The Summer Olympics last came to the US in 1996 in Atlanta, and before that in Los Angeles, both in 1984 and 1932.
