Los Angeles Olympic Bid Endorsed By U.S. Olympic Committee
The U.S. Olympic Committee is endorsing Los Angeles’ bid for the 2024 Olympic Games.
According to a report by Fox News, the USOC announced on Tuesday, September 1 that they had named Los Angeles as a candidate for the Games.
USOC CEO Scott Blackmun made the announcement at Santa Monica Beach during a news conference, hours after the City Council voted unanimously (15-0 vote) to move forward with their bid.
“It is my distinct honor to formally name the city of Los Angeles as the U.S. bid to host the 2024 Olympics,” Blackmun said.
Los Angeles has hosted the Olympic Games twice in the past, with the most recent being in 1984. The Games were also hosted in 1932. Mayor Eric Garcetti said the success of the previous Games, held in the city, inspired them to want to bring them back for the first time in over 30 years. The last time the Games were held in the United States was 28 years ago.
BREAKING: USOC formally names @LA2024 as the U.S. bid to host the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games. #LA2024 pic.twitter.com/5kkdWq8F6i
— U.S. Olympic Team (@TeamUSA) September 1, 2015
“This is a great day for Los Angeles and a great day for the Olympic movement,” Garcetti said. “This is a quest Los Angeles was made for. This city is the world’s greatest stage.”
The International Olympic Committee will announce the host city in 2017, and currently Rome, Paris, Hamburg, Germany, and Budapest, Hungary, are in the running for the position, the Eagle Rock Patch reports.
“Let Paris and Rome and whoever else who wants to compete know, we’re in this to win it, and I think we will,” Councilman Paul Krekorian said.
Blackmun said the IOC is calling for a new bid process that “offers greater flexibility and less risk to cities that are interested in hosting the Games.” He also said the IOC “is looking to partner with cities to create a new hosting model, a model that sheds excessive spending, using existing venues and builds as little as necessary.”
The council members agreed to back the bid only after city attorneys assured them the city will not be making any immediate financial decisions.
“We exchanged lists of things that would have to be covered by negotiations. His first item was the financial commitment, if any, of the city. So he recognizes by this action this council is not committing the city financially at all,” Deputy City Attorney Jim Clark said.
“I think it was a fabulous vote,” Garcetti said. “We all know the next two years are about fleshing out the details, but this is in our DNA. We know how to do Olympics, we know how to do them well, we know how to do them economically.”
The IOC set a September 15 deadline date for cities to enter the race for the 2024 Olympic Games. The last time the U.S. hosted was in 1996 in Atlanta.
[Photo by Gl0ck / Shutterstock.com]
