How Toronto stacks up against the City of Angels

This week, Los Angeles city council voted to pursue the 2024 Summer Olympics. With the Sept. 15 deadline for Toronto to join the race closing in, the Star compares what the two cities bring to the table.

Costs

Toronto: The projected net cost to host the 2024 Games is $3.3 billion to $6.9 billion, with the city’s estimated contribution to be $500 million to $1 billion (land and/or cash). Los Angeles: LA2024, the city’s organizing committee, estimates the event will cost at least $4.7 billion, but projects a surplus of $161 million from broadcast, sponsorship and ticket revenues. Private-sector partners would be expected to contribute more than $1.7 billion.

The Pitch

Toronto: “Toronto is Canada’s largest city, its financial and cultural capital, a major centre for sports and one of the most multicultural cities in the world.” Los Angeles: “Our iconic venues and infrastructure improvements combined with out experience hosting major events will ensure a sustainable Games that directly benefits our community. Mix in the world’s top storytellers, and Los Angeles is the ideal host to elevate the Olympic Movement and inspire the world.”

History

Toronto: Toronto finished third behind Athens and Atlanta — which won the 1996 Summer Olympics — and placed second to Beijing for the 2008 Summer Olympics. Los Angeles: Previously hosted the Olympics in 1932 and 1984. It tried unsuccessfully to be named by the U.S. Olympic Committee as its candidate to host the 2016 Games. Chicago lost to Rio de Janeiro.

Venues

Toronto: The proposed primary site would take up to 242 hectares in the Port Lands, where an Olympic stadium, athletes’ village and other venues would be built. New Pan Am venues, including the velodrome in Milton and aquatics centre in Scarborough, could be repurposed. Los Angeles: L.A. plans an athletes’ village on property near the river that’s currently a rail hub. It also proposes to revamp existing venues, including Memorial Coliseum, Staples Center and Pauley Pavilion. The city also plans to turn a not-yet-built soccer stadium into a temporary, 20,000-seat aquatics centre.

Strengths

Toronto: The city just hosted a suc- cessful Pan Am Games, the largest sporting event in Canadian history. Rio de Janeiro leveraged its Pan Am 2007 games into the 2016 Summer Olympics. Los Angeles: The City of Angels has done it twice before, the last time in 1984, an event credited with “saving the Olympic movement by establishing a new model for cost control and maximizing revenue thorough corporate sponsorships,” the L.A. Times reports. Officials have already lighted the Olympic flame at the Coliseum to signify the bid.

Weaknesses

Toronto: While Los Angeles has already provided a detailed plan of how it would host the 2024 Summer Games, Mayor John Tory is still deciding whether to sign a letter of intent before a Sept. 15 deadline. Paris, Rome, Hamburg and Budapest are also vying to play host. Los Angeles: City analysts have warned the plan proposed by bid organizers lacked details in its cost estimates.

As a result, “it is difficult to determine the fiscal impact and risk to the city of hosting the 2024 Games,” they wrote. The L.A. Times notes the city has to overcome a “secondchoice” label, since the national Olympic Committee initially picked Boston.