Los Angeles Presented As U.S. Bidder For 2024 Olympic Games In Switzerland
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — An initial pitch presenting Los Angeles as the U.S. bidder to host the 2024 Summer games was made to the International Olympic Committee Thursday during a "very productive" round of talks in Switzerland.
An American delegation made up of Mayor Eric Garcetti, U.S. Olympic Committee Chairman and International Olympic Committee member Larry Probst, USOC CEO Scott Blackmun and LA 2024 Chairman Casey Wasserman met in Lausanne with IOC President Thomas Bach to discuss Los Angeles' bid to host the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
"It was an honor to meet with President Bach to discuss our initial bid," Garcetti said in a statement released by LA 2024. "The Olympics are part of LA's DNA – and we appreciate the opportunity to share our Olympic passion with the IOC and strengthen a movement that seeks to unite the world in friendship and peace through sport."
Wasserman, whose group is spearheading the Los Angeles campaign, was upbeat about today's talks.
"We had a very productive meeting today with IOC President Bach," he said. "As this will be the first full Olympic bid campaign conducted under the new Agenda 2020 guidelines, we look forward to showing how a Los Angeles Olympic and Paralympic Games can produce tremendous benefits for our city, leave a fully sustainable legacy for our residents and elevate the Olympic Movement around the world."
President Barack Obama is enthusiastic and strongly supportive of Los Angeles' bid to host the 2024 Olympics, White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said Wednesday as the L.A. delegation headed to Lausanne.
"The city of Los Angeles knows what an undertaking hosting these games would be," Earnest told reporters aboard Air Force One en route to Dillingham, Alaska.
Obama attended the 2009 International Olympic Committee meeting in Copenhagen, Denmark, where the site of the 2016 Olympics was decided. Despite Obama's presence, his adopted hometown of Chicago finished last in voting in
the first round and was eliminated from further consideration. Rio de Janeiro was selected as the site of the 2016 Games.
The U.S. Olympic Committee selected Los Angeles Tuesday as the nation's candidate to bid for the 2024 Summer Olympic Games, about an hour after the City Council voted 15-0 to back the bid.
Boston was the USOC's initial choice as the U.S. candidate but backed out over concerns about financial liability. Los Angeles had failed in its attempts in both of the most recent previous attempts to be the U.S. candidate.
Los Angeles -- the site of the 1932 and 1984 games -- is looking to join London as the only cities to host the Summer Olympics three times. The Summer Olympics were last held in the United States in 1996, when Atlanta was the site.
LA24 officials estimate the cost for hosting the 2024 Olympics in Los Angeles would be $4.1 billion, or $4.6 billion when a roughly $400 million contingency fund and insurance are included. They project revenue from the Games will bring in $4.8 billion, resulting in a profit of $161 million going to LA24.
The budget anticipates the IOC will contribute $1.5 billion, or 31 percent of the revenue, with domestic sponsorships and ticket revenue making up the other two-thirds.
The bid packet also included details about how the Olympics might be operated. The Olympic Village would be next to the Los Angeles River in Lincoln Heights -- in a Union Pacific rail yard known as the "Piggyback Yard" -- and calls for track-and-field and the opening and closing ceremonies to be held at a renovated Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.
The bid also designates venue clusters in downtown Los Angeles, Hollywood, the San Fernando Valley, coastal areas like Santa Monica, the area around UCLA and the South Bay.
LA24 officials and Garcetti said the bid proposal and the budget figures are only a "first draft" and will continue to be refined over the next two years.
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