Los Angeles Reveals Its Olympic Dream
Los Angeles has hosted the Olympics twice. The first time Los Angeles hosted the games was in 1932, and the city of angels once again hosted the games in 1984. In 2024, Los Angeles hopes to host the international athletic summit once again.
Los Angeles was listed as one of the cities to with an option join a bid for the 2024 Olympics.
— LA – 2024 Olympics (@Los_Angeles2024) June 14, 2014
The largest concern for a city hosting the Olympics is financial. USA Today reports that Boston’s hopes to bid for the games were dashed because of the burden on the taxpayer in paying the 4.6 billion dollar bill. The expense projected for Los Angeles would not be much less, at $4.1 billion, which the Los Angeles City Council is supposed to vote on Friday. The vote will determine whether or not Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti will have the authorization to allocate funds related to the games.
To sweeten the deal, those proposing the budget say that the financial plan to hold the games in Los Angeles would leave the city with a $161 million dollar surplus. To alleviate cost, they would be using funds to renovate venues that already exist in Los Angeles, such as the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, which would get $800 million in upgrades. Since the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum is a facility used by the University of Souther California, the University would pay $500 million of the bill.
According to The New York Times, another facility in Los Angeles that would be renovated would be the Staple’s Center, and a Major League Soccer stadium will be built next to the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. The sum of the cost for Olympic venues would be $1.1 billion.
Another measure to cut cost would be holding events all over Los Angeles. Beach volleyball would be held in Santa Monica, basketball and swimming would be held in downtown Los Angeles, and mountain biking would be held in Griffith Park.
Jeff Millman, a spokesman for LA2024, the group putting together the bid for the games coming to Los Angeles, spoke very highly of the budget that has been put together.
“The bottom line is, this is a fiscally responsible and profitable plan. The Olympics concept for the city of L.A. will fit very easily and comfortably into the city.”
There is still the possibility that holding the Olympics in Los Angeles might be biting off more than the city can chew. The University of Southern California said it was prepared to chip in only about $70 million to upgrading the Coliseum. Also, there are expected to be partnerships with businesses to the tune of $1 billion, but no businesses that have agreed to that have been named in LA2024’s report.
[Image by Chung Sung-Jun/Getty Images]
