LA Olympic Organizers Make Critical Presentation To IOC
LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com/AP) — Los Angeles Olympic organizers were putting their plans on display Wednesday at a time of uncertainty in the race for the 2024 Games.
The members of the International Olympic Committee's Evaluation Commission are in Los Angeles this week to inspect stadiums and arenas that could become future Olympic venues.
LA 2024 hosted a day-long working meeting Wednesday ahead of a tour of the LA 2024 Games sites on Thursday. The delegation flies to Paris on Friday.
The visitors -- a delegation of about 14 led by IOC Member Patrick Baumann of Switzerland -- arrived last weekend, according to LA 2024. Emphasizing Southern California's ability to orchestrate colorful events, several landmark venues were lit up last night "in the colors of L.A.'s iconic sunsets and the LA 2024 Angel logo," as an LA 2024 statement described it.
The illuminated venues included the U.S. Bank Tower, Walt Disney Concert Hall, Grand Park fountain, the Hollywood Bowl marquee, Griffith Observatory, the Greek Theater, the Dolby Theater, LAX, the Capital Records building, the Santa Monica ferris wheel, the Aquarium of the Pacific, the interior of the Hammer Museum and, for the first time, the Wilshire Grand, the tallest building on the West Coast.
There is a big unknown, however.
Los Angeles and Paris are the only two bidders left for the 2024 Games that will be awarded in September at a meeting of Olympic leaders in Peru. The IOC is considering a proposal to use that meeting to award the next two Olympics — 2024 and 2028. That means one to each city.
Like Paris, L.A. says it's only interested in 2024.
The contest for the 2024 Games has been messy. The race began with five cities, but Rome, Hamburg and Budapest all pulled out.
The IOC is eager to keep costs in check after decades of runaway spending, and L.A. has made its lean budget a selling point.
The L.A. bid requires no new construction of permanent venues. It projects spending $5.3 billion, which would be around one-third of what Tokyo is expected to spend for 2020.
The commission will issue a report on July 5. The host cities will be able to make a formal presentation to IOC members during meetings July 11-12 in Lausanne, Switzerland. The IOC will make a selection Sept. 13 during a meeting in Lima, Peru.
(© Copyright 2017 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
