The USOC today named Los Angeles the US bid city for the 2024 summer Olympic games. LA is trying to become an Olympic host for the third time. LA hosted games in 1932 and 1984. Today, the LA City Council voted 15-0 to give the LA mayor Eric Garcetti approval to bid on the games.
The games budget proposed is 4.1 billion dollars. Another 6 billion will be spent on infrastructure, mostly by the private sector. Games insurance would cost 150 million and 400 million would be raised to cover cost overruns. The bid calls for a 161 million dollar surplus.
A one billion dollar athletes village is proposed. 500 million dollars of improvements to the LA Coliseum will be paid for by USC. The Coliseum would host the opening and closing ceremonies and track and field.
Other venues included in the bid include the Staples Center which would host gymnastics and basketball. The Galen Center would host boxing and basketball would be played at the Pauley Pavillion. Santa Monica beach would host beach volleyball. The Rose Bowl would host soccer and the Inglewood Forum would host indoor volleyball. There are approximately 30 venues in the bid book.
Over 80% of LA residents support having the games which is a far cry from Boston's 40% approval rating. On January 8, 2015 the USOC first picked Boston but after 8 months of strong local opposition they finally pulled the bid.
Toronto probably won't bid on the 2024 games so besides Los Angeles, the remaining bidders on the 2024 games are Paris, Rome, Hamburg and Budapest.
Let's bring the games back to the USA! This bid seems strong and has community support. From watching the USOC press conference today, its a different feel from Boston's bid. USA Olympian Janet Evans leads a host of Olympic athletes in support of the games. Greg Louganis, Peter Vidmar, Bryan Clay, Alex Morgan and others all lend their support of LA 2024. This is the city the USOC should have picked the first time. I supported Boston because at that time they were the US bid city, now I support LA because they are the new bid city. The LA bid looks stronger than Boston based on more LA existing venues already in place and LA is a two-time summer games host.
Go LA 2024! The IOC will choose the 2024 host city in 2017.
