Thomas Bach gets what he wants: A USA bid for 2024 Olympics

USOC Chief Executive Scott Blackman said the city’s bid fit well with the global Olympic Committee (IOC) agenda for 2020, which prioritizes as little infrastructure construction as possible for host cities.

‘We are telling the world that we are Los Angeles and we are here to compete, ‘ Los Angeles City Council President Herb Wesson told members during Tuesday’s hearing.

Despite the $4.66 billion cost of building that stage, a 2024 Games in Los Angeles would produce a $161.1 million surplus, according to projections by the Los Angeles 2024 organizing committee, the private non-profit group headed by sports and media entrepreneur Casey Wasserman that would finance most of the Games.

Los Angeles’s plan calls for a $6 billion Games, a far cry from more extravagant expenditures like those of 2008 Beijing and 2014 Sochi.

The city’s mayor says taxpayers wouldn’t have to pay anything because of the money the games would generate.

A third Los Angeles Olympics, Wasserman said, is “not a gamble”.

But some city officials and residents have urged caution in pursuing the bid, saying the city could be on the hook for cost overruns incurred by hosting the Olympics, which may cost more to run than estimates by boosters.

Rio de Janeiro will host the Summer Games next year with Tokyo holding the event for a second time in 2020. The International Olympic Committee will select the 2024 host city on September 15, 2017 in Lima, Peru.

On Tuesday, council members voted, 15-0, to authorize Garcetti to move forward but emphasized they will have the right to vote on any future plans that put public funds at risk. We’re incredibly grateful to have a partner in Los Angeles that understands not only how to host the Games but understands the value and meaning of the Olympic movement, and believes very much in what we do.

Los Angeles started the effort after Boston, the USOC’s initial choice, backed out over concerns about financial liability. The 1984 LA Olympics were the first Summer Games to break even since 1932, when they were also held in LA. “So he recognizes by this action this council is not committing the city financially at all”, Clark said. Toronto is also weighing up a bid, but recent indications are that city leaders have lost some enthusiasm for the idea.

The bid calls for building a $1 billion athletes village on a rail yard the city doesnt own, and government analysts have warned that developing the site could significantly exceed the projected cost. Under a new format, there will be no cut-down of the field this time and all bid cities will go to the final vote.

An early controversy arising with L.A.’s bid is what public entities, if any, would cover losses from the games.