The United States Olympic Committee has confirmed publicly that it is in discussions with Los Angeles to become the United States’ new bidder to host the 2024 Olympic Games, the organization announced on Wednesday after a meeting of its board of directors in Denver.
“We continue to think that a U.S. bid for the 2024 Games can be successful,” said USOC chairman Larry Probst. “The board authorized CEO Scott Blackmun to work with Los Angeles to explore the viability of a potential bid for the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games. We hope to finalize terms that benefit both the city of Los Angeles and the Olympic Movement in the United States so that we can submit a world-class bid to the IOC by its September 15 deadline.”
The USOC initially named Boston as its selection to vie for the country’s first Summer Olympic Games since 1996, but in July that bid was withdrawn mutually by the committee and local organizers due to an apparent lack of local support.
The press release notes that they don’t believe Los Angeles will have a similar issue, as the city saw 81% support for a bid in the first selection. L.A. has previously hosted the 1932 and 1984 Summer Olympic Games. If successful, it would join London (1908, 1948, 2012) as the only cities to host the Olympic Games more than twice.
The decision on who will host the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games will be made in the summer of 2017, but official bids from all potential host countries are due to the IOC by September 15th, 2015. San Francisco and Washington, D.C., were named as the two other finalists in the initial selection when Boston won.
Joel, Denver was actually awarded the Winter Olympics in 1976 and then pulled out. It was then given to Innsbruck. They lost it when voters rejected a 5 million dollar bond to help finance the Olympics 60 percent to 40. FIVE. MILLION. They will never get a shot at an Olympiad again.
I am a huge proponent of keeping the Olympics in a select few places to cut costs. LA is already partway there.
Or perhaps the Olympics should be held in one place only? It would be easier on countries and fairer to the athletes IMO.
Food for thought: https://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2015/07/28/we-should-host-the-olympics-in-the-same-place-every-time/
Perfect location because we have Rose Bowl, Coliseum, Qualcomm stadium (if needed), Stub Hub Center, the new LAFC stadium, Staples Center, Galen Center, The Forum, Los Angeles Convention Center.
And if LA gets a new NFL team, we will have a brand new State of the Art stadium.
I concur on Denver being a great suggestion for a winter games. Lake Tahoe, no way. The infrastructure to every resort are one lane roads, and then Donner Pass from the south into Lake Tahoe is notorious for horrible traffic on ski season months. Lake Tahoe also tried to make its Olympic pitch as the Reno / Lake Tahoe games. Reno isn’t the place that will attract an Olympics with the gambling industry dominating the city. So that’s not good either.
Constructing a pool would not be hard. Remember that pool they put in the parking lot for trials in Long Beach?
Exactly, SCCOACH. Couldn’t a temporary facility be placed into an existing outdoor stadium like Kazan? I liked the pool used for the 2004 Trials, but man oh man, those bleachers were pretty wobbly and scary when everyone stood up during one of the races. Because LA was such a huge success in 1984 (thank you Peter Ueberroth), we could experience the same once again – and maybe be better. It will be exciting to see what develops.
The competition will be tough for 2024 and let’s be honest LA isn’t the sexiest choice either. If the USOC really wanted the Olympics the winter games would be a virtual slam dunk for Denver or Lake Tahoe given the relatively weaker competition. But the USOC would probably sacrifice the favorable odds of a winter games opportunity for a faint hope bid on the summer games.
LA will still have to build a new Olympic Stadium or renovate the LA Coliseum. A new pool will have to be built (FINA regulations require a 10-lane pool), because with the recent renovations, the USC Olympic pool cannot be expanded to seat 10-12k spectators. I do suspect that the construction of a pool venue would be a relatively minor consideration, assuming the IOC and FINA agree to allow an outdoor meet. In that case, a temporary venue can be built in the LA Coliseum (if it is not renovated for use as the Olympic Stadium), or maybe the parking lot of the Coliseum, Woollett Center, Rose Bowl, Staples Center or someplace. Admittedly, I’m not too familiar with LA geography,… Read more »
The LA Games in 1984 were the best two weeks of my life. No traffic. None. Everyone was so scared out of what was supposed to be the traffic debacle of the ages, that many made summer vacation plans to leave. Non-tourist trade businesses decided to have down days and weeks. Traffic won’t be an issue for an LA Games. The Games venues could be spread out into Orange County or north some, but a radius like that for an Olympics is not unusual.
DC would not be nearly as attractive for a bid. Many of the needed facilities would need to be built and publicly funded, and the weather is disgusting.
If LA gets a new NFL team, we should have a state of the art stadium easily able to host the olympics.
Smart. I do believe the only two well suited American cities for a summer Olympic Games are LA and the SF Bay Area. That’s it.