By Jaina Pallasigui
EBC Los Angeles Bureau
LOS ANGELES (Eagle News) – Los Angeles officials announced a deal with the International Olympics Committee to host the 2028 Summer Olympics, paving the way for Paris to claim the 2024 bid.
Having hosted previously in 1932 and 1984, this would be the third time Los Angeles would host the Olympics, where the city’s mayor, Eric Garcetti, wants to “reimagine the games for a new generation.”
The agreement will be considered by the Los Angeles City Council and U.S. Olympic Committee later this month.
If settled, the IOC would be set to make a formal announcement to award the host cities of the 2024 and 2028 games simultaneously.
This unusual dual announcement would grant Paris the 2024 bid and Los Angeles to host in 2028.
Although Los Angeles has to wait 11 years to play host, Mayor Garcetti said, “the deal was too good to pass up.”
The IOC will contribute $1.8 billion for the Los Angeles games, with millions of dollars in advanced funds to support access and development for youth sports leading up to the event.
With infrastructure already in place, such as existing sports arenas like the Staples Center and StubHub Center and plans to use the UCLA dorms as an Olympic Village, Los Angeles is set up to possibly make an economic surplus from hosting the games.
Such qualities were what made Los Angeles’ bid for the Olympics so appealing in the first place.
The anticipated success of the 2028 games hopes to make history. At a time when cities are retreating after seeing how host cities, like Brazil, were left in economic disarray, Los Angeles wants to put forward an Olympic model that can be used for the next 50 years.
So much so, that Mayor Garcetti reminded that in Los Angeles, the “Olympic flame burns bright. It, in fact, has never gone out.”
(Eagle News Service)