Written by David Wharton at LA Times.com
Los Angeles’ roller coaster campaign to host the Olympics for a third time — an effort marked by early defeat and last-second negotiations — reached a conclusion Wednesday when the city was formally awarded the 2028 Summer Games.
International Olympic Committee members voted their approval with a show of hands at a session in Lima, Peru, ending an unusual bid competition that resulted in two winners, with Paris simultaneously awarded the 2024 Games.
“Like anything worth fighting for, this was a long journey,” Mayor Eric Garcetti said. “Little by little, we got a victory.”
After the membership gave the cities a standing ovation, IOC President Thomas Bach added: “It is really this win-win-win situation we were all together looking for.”
Bach and Garcetti sat at a long table where the mayor signed the “host city contract,” obligating L.A. to serve as a financial backstop, paying off any debts should the estimated $5.3-billion sporting event run over budget.
The private LA 2028 bid committee has vowed to control costs by using existing venues such as the Coliseum and Staples Center, as well as the Rams’ stadium currently under construction in Inglewood. Bid leaders have emphasized that the city’s two previous Games, in 1932 and 1984, were financially successful.
This time, they expect to cover all expenses through revenues from broadcast rights, sponsorships, ticket sales and other sources. But critics have noted that previous hosts — including Rio de Janeiro, which staged the 2016 Summer Olympics — had promised to balance their budgets only to come away with large deficits.
“Despite the fact that the IOC has awarded L.A. the bid to host the 2028 Summer Olympics, the fight isn’t over,” a grass-roots group called NOlympics LA said in a statement. “The notion that ‘L.A. is going to have the Olympics, one way or another’ isn’t necessarily true, as many opportunities still exist to intervene and stop them entirely.”
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