Official: LA 2024 bid not only about LA or 2024

The leader of the bid to bring the 2024 Olympics to Los Angeles says “LA 2024 has never been only about LA or 2024” — another signal that the city could be willing to host the 2028 Olympics and let Paris take the 2024 Games.

In a statement Wednesday titled, “An Opportunity to Serve,” LA 2024 chairman Casey Wasserman said when the idea of awarding both games was initially brought up, Los Angeles stopped short of issuing an ultimatum of 2024 or nothing to the International Olympic Committee.

“We could have used that strategy, but we didn’t because we thought it was presumptuous to tell the IOC what to do and how to think,” Wasserman said. “We’re better partners than that.”

Wasserman’s statement comes two days before an IOC meeting to discuss the potential two-city award. It comes a week after LA Mayor Eric Garcetti acknowledged discussing with the IOC what it would take for Los Angeles to take the 2028 Olympics. Garcetti has said he’d want the IOC to offer funding for youth sports programs in the LA area.

Though both cities have contracts in place only for 2024, thus far, Paris has appeared much less willing to consider 2028.

The IOC is scheduled to award the 2024 Games at a meeting in September, but this week’s meeting and another next month could all but determine the result of the bidding.