Los Angeles gets 2028 Olympics
Deal awards Paris 2024 Summer Games
Los Angeles will host the 2028 Olympics in a deal with the IOC that also gives Paris the ’24 Games,
Los Angeles will host the 2028 Olympics after the city reached a deal with the International Olympic Committee.
The deal will allow Paris to host the 2024 Games, which had been expected. In waiting four years to host the Games, the Los Angeles Organizing Committee will receive funds from the IOC “in view of the longer planning period” and to support youth sports programs in the city, according to a news release.
The IOC will contribute $1.8 billion for planning and organizing the Games with the potential to exceed $2 billion because of existing sponsor agreements and potential new marketing deals.
Los Angeles’ City Council and the U.S. Olympic Committee board of directors will meet to consider approving the agreement this month. If it’s approved, Los Angeles and Paris will enter a tripartite agreement that clears the way for IOC members to confirm both Olympic host cities at meetings in Lima, Peru, on Sept. 13.
“Our bid for 2024 was one of the greatest ever assembled,” Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti said in a news conference Monday. “Don’t take my word for it; we heard that from IOC members time and time again. They said we’ve never seen a bid this strong. ... In the spirit of partnership, we worked together with the IOC on forging a new future at a delicate time in international relations and for the Olympic Games.
“Los Angeles, today we have won the greatest prize of all.”
The IOC paved the way for the historic dual award with a unanimous vote in July to try to reach a deal with the two cities. Garcetti and Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo celebrated by bursting onto the stage after the vote and thanking IOC President Thomas Bach, giving an immediate indication that the parties were interested in working something out.
Bach called the IOC’s decision “a golden opportunity” then, and the agreement allows the IOC to secure the future of the Summer Olympics for more than a decade while giving each city an event it had coveted.
“The IOC welcomes this decision of the Los Angeles Olympic and Paralympic bid committee,” Bach said in a statement Monday. “They presented a strong and enthusiastic candidature that embraces the Olympic Agenda 2020 sustainability priorities by incorporating existing facilities and encouraging the engagement of more youth in the Olympic movement.”
The USOC has been trying to bring the Summer Games back to the USA for more than a decade, with failed bids for the 2012 Olympics with New York and 2016 with Chicago. Los Angeles will host the first Summer Olympics in the country since the Atlanta Games in 1996.
Paris, meanwhile, endured three failed bids before securing the 2024 Games, an event that will mark the centennial of the city’s last Olympics.
Since Bach bemoaned a process that “produces too many losers” last winter, the IOC has been building toward a dual award. It was made easier by Budapest’s withdrawal from the bidding process in February.
Paris has long been seen as the favorite to secure the 2024 Games after taking a much harder line stance on the idea of a dual award. For months, Los Angeles praised the notion while saying it was committed to winning the Games for 2024.
Both cities impressed the IOC’s evaluation commission, which called them “outstanding ” in its report.
Each bid relied heavily on existing venues, and leaders from both cities entered negotiations looking for ways to collaborate in their unique situation of planning the Games simultaneously.
Garcetti called the bid “responsible and low risk.”
He spoke of the legacy for the city’s children who will have a chance to participate in sports. “We can build that legacy right now instead of waiting until the Olympics are over. Simply put, what we were able to negotiate, this deal was too good to pass up,” Garcetti said.
He added it wasn’t a tough negotiation with the IOC. “Sure, we had to work out details, but they saw the vision of Los Angeles and wanted to be a part of it,” he added.