Los Angeles will host the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games as part of a deal in which Paris will hold the 2024 Games, according to sources familiar with negotiations between the city and the International Olympic Committee.
The agreement between Los Angeles and the IOC comes less than a month after the IOC voted unanimously to award two Games in one year for the first time since 1921.
The agreement will be formally announced by Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, city council president Herb Wesson, Los Angeles 2024 and U.S. Olympic Committee officials Monday, July 31 at StubHub Center.
The deal will be approved by the IOC membership on Sept. 13 in Lima, Peru.
The IOC’s unanimous vote in Lausanne on July 11 that guaranteed Los Angeles and Paris the opportunity to host a third Olympic Games was characterized by IOC president Thomas Bach and Garcetti as a “golden opportunity” for both cities and an Olympic movement whose future has been jeopardized by a series of corruption, financial and doping scandals that have scared off potential bid cities, younger viewers and sponsors.
The 2028 Games will follow the same general plans as Los Angeles 2024 officials pitched for the 2024 Games. Those plans were described in an IOC bid evaluation report released earlier this month as “forward-looking, innovative, vibrant, and cool.”
Los Angeles’ bid to host a third Olympic Games comes revolves four Olympic sports parks — downtown, Long Beach, South Bay, the Valley — and stresses a city re-energized and more diverse since hosting the record-setting 1984 Games as well as both the city’s lengthy Olympic history and its 21st Century vision for the Olympic movement.
The 2028 Games will benefit from $88 billion in previously approved infrastructure projects, the $14 billion renovation of Los Angeles International Airport and $120 billion in transit funding approved by Los Angeles County voters last year.
The IOC report repeatedly touches on the region’s wealth of existing Olympic-caliber venues and the city’s unique place at the intersection of the entertainment and technology industries.
“When discussing the main differentiators of both candidatures, the two words the Evaluation Commission often attributed to LA2024 were ‘dynamic’ and ‘futuristic,’” the report said. “Los Angeles is prepared to put its storytelling skills, creative energy and cutting-edge technologies to good use in delivering what it proposes will be a transformative Olympic Games that will thrill and inspire the world, just as some Hollywood masterpieces have done over the generations.”
Ninety-seven percent of Los Angeles’ proposed venues already exist or would be temporary. The commission wrote that “with so many world-class sports facilities at its disposal, the Los Angeles venue inventory exceeds Games’ needs.”
The opening ceremonies will begin at the Coliseum, from where the Olympic flame will be carried through the city’s streets to the $2.6 billion stadium being built in Inglewood for the balance of the ceremonies. The track and field competition will be held at the Coliseum, with swimming taking place nearby on the USC campus.
The Olympic Village will be at existing dorms and facilities at UCLA, providing athletes world-class training facilities just steps from their front doors. The LA 2024 budget lists $33.6 million in Olympic Village related costs. Gymnastics will take place at the Forum in Inglewood, with volleyball held at Honda Center in Anaheimn.
“The proposed Olympic Village would be outstanding in all aspects and very low risk from an operational standpoint,” the evaluation commission report said.
LA 2024’s plans for the 2024 Games projected a balanced $5.3 billion budget. That number is likely to increase for the 2028 Games, as are payments from the IOC.
The IOC will contribute to the 2024 host city nearly $1.5 billion — $855 million from television revenue, another $453.5 million from its TOP Sponsors program and corporate partners such as Coca-Cola and Visa, according to bid documents. The IOC evaluation commission report projected Los Angeles receiving $1.12 billion from the IOC and its top-level sponsors, according to an IOC evaluation commission report.
“One issue to consider, if the IOC provides financial inducements of some sort for 2028, is whether those inducements will make it less likely that the 2028 Games experience financial shortfalls,” said Jason Sisney, the state’s chief deputy legislative analyst. “Whether Los Angeles hosts the 2024 or 2028 Games, there will be many twists and turns in executing the plan over the next seven or 11 years. Sticking to LA 2024’s bold, low-risk plan is likely to require strict discipline by bid organizers and the city, working cooperatively with the IOC and sports federations.
“With the state government as a possible financial partner for 2028, we at the LAO (Legislative Analystap Office) will be interested in whether any deal with the IOC increases the Games’ financial cushion. While the LA 2024 plan is refreshingly low-risk, we would be most pleased if the initial 2028 plan carries even less risk. The reason: 2028 is a considerably more distant option – with all the unknowns that come with that – and managing risk should continue to be a priority for both the city and the state.”
LA 2024 is expected to reach a Memorandum of Understanding with the city that will be similar to the MOU approved by the city council in January. That agreement gave the council a role in the planning of the 2024 Olympic Games and the city protection against an unexpected financial deficit had Los Angeles been awarded those Games. The agreement required LA 2024 to establish an allocated contingency fund of at least $250 million. The fund would have been utilized only with the city’s written consent. The fund would have been created out of the $487.6 million LA 2024 plans to set aside for contingencies.
