Will 2028 Olympics be a boom or bust?
Are you looking forward to Southern California hosting the summer Olympic Games in 2028?
That's our Question of the Week for our readers.
In just over four years — ones that have a way of passing quickly — Los Angeles will join London in becoming the second world city to have hosted three different Olympics.
The 1932 games were a watershed moment in Southern California history, helpful in creating an image of our region as not just a far-flung outpost but a major American metropolis. Held in the middle of the worldwide Great Depression — literally no other city made a bid to host them — they made use of existing infrastructure such as the Memorial Coliseum and the Rose Bowl rather than building expensive new venues.
The 1984 games continued L.A.'s reputation for efficiency and success. After much initiial skepticism, and fears of huge cost overruns, the games, famously helmed by Peter Ueberroth, ended up millions of dollars in the black, funding area nonprofits for years to come. Plus — promised mammoth traffic jams never materialized.
Will the 2028 games be so fortunate?
Are you already making plans to attend events from the spectacular Opening Ceremonies to the surfing contests at our famed beaches, or are you instead already planning to head for the hills?
Is the spirit of the Olympic movement, which since the ancient Athenian games were revived late in the 19th century has stood for amateurism and the thrills of competition, still alive — or has that flame been extinguished in a sea of professional athletes, big-time money, jingoism and gaudy spectacle?
Do politics play too big a part in today's Olympics, or was it always thus, from Hitler's games in 1936 to Beijing's propaganda in 2008? In the Southern California of today, is it still possible that the efficiencies, transit ease and fiscal profit rather than loss of 1984 can be duplicated in 2028? Will the buildout of the region's rail system mean that visitors and locals alike will get to venues with ease?
Email your thoughts to opinion@scng.com. Please include your full name and city or community of residence. Provide a daytime phone number (it will not be published).