Why L.A. 2028 might not be such a good deal - for the city or the IOC

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Why L.A. 2028 might not be such a good deal - for the city or the IOC

Now what for Los Angeles and a Summer Olympics it apparently won’t have until 2028?

For a number of reasons, an unprecedented 11-year wait between being named host city for the Games and staging them is fraught with potential pitfalls.

Costs will rise.  Contracts may need renegotiation.  Opponents will have more time to make their case.  The political landscape in Los Angeles could change dramatically.

Such issues need to be addressed because all signs currently point to the International Olympic Committee deciding in July to award both the 2024 and 2028 Summer Games rather than have Los Angeles and Paris contend for the lone prize they originally thought was at stake, the 2024 Olympics.

And, although this is less certain, the conventional wisdom now is that the IOC will not be smart enough to see the obvious reasons for giving 2024 to Los Angeles rather than Paris.

 

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The one BIG reason why L.A. has the better 2024 Olympic bid

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The one BIG reason why L.A. has the better 2024 Olympic bid

Los Angeles has a significantly better bid than that of Paris for the 2024 Olympics.

In fact, the L.A. plan looks like the best all-around candidature, especially in its fiscal planning, from a city in a democratic nation during my 30 years of covering these bids.  Los Angeles bid leaders began with a lot of advantages in terms of existing or soon-to-be-built venues and have been smart enough to make the most of them.

The 1984 Los Angeles Summer Games saved the International Olympic Committee financially.  A 2024 Los Angeles Summer Games could have a similarly profound impact on the IOC’s ability to attract future bidders.

So there, I’ve said it.

And the reason why?

It comes from just one huge difference in the two strong bids, the difference that should mean the most to the International Olympic Committee at a time when almost no city in a democratic nation wants to be host of an Olympic Games, summer or winter, because of the financial peril involved.  (Latest in a long list of recent dropouts:  Stockholm, a wondrous city, as a potential candidate for the 2026 Winter Olympics.)

What truly separates Los Angeles from Paris is the U.S. candidate does not have to build an Olympic Village, a high-risk investment (ask Vancouver 2010 or London 2012).

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2024 Olympics: Paris looks to build bridges while L.A. has to walk through walls

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2024 Olympics: Paris looks to build bridges while L.A. has to walk through walls

Paris and Los Angeles treated the start of the international campaign to win the 2024 Summer Olympics very differently Friday.

The French held a press opportunity at a glitzy brasserie with a view of the Eiffel Tower as it glowed and glittered in the projected five colors of the Olympic rings, and the new Paris 2024 slogan, “Made For Sharing,” appeared in the projection.

That was “Made For Sharing” in English only, in both the projection and on the Paris 2024 Facebook page, which has caused some consternation among the French, notably the Trumpian “Make France First” politician Marine Le Pen.  More on that later.

At the same time, the two leaders of the Los Angeles bid, chairman Casey Wasserman and CEO Gene Sykes, were doing a conference call with reporters.

The Paris 2024 press conference, which came only a few hours after an apparent terrorist attack at the Louvre, included the country’s prime minister, Bernard Cazeneuve, who pointedly said France wants to “build bridges, not walls.”

The L.A. conference call, which came just hours after reports that Iran was imposing what amounts to a tit-for-tat ban by prohibiting U.S. freestyle wrestlers from entering Iran for a meet, included Wasserman doing his best to do a tap dance worthy of Fred Astaire around the point Cazeneuve was making.

That point, of course, is that president Trump’s immigration and travel ban and his criticisms of Mexico, China, NATO, Australia, the Trans Pacific Partnership and whomever or whatever else Trump’s puppet master, Steve Bannon, wants to attack next are building walls the Los Angeles bid may find difficult to break down or bridge.

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