Bidding for the 2024 Olympics

by Gary Toebben

Today, Mayor Eric Garcetti and a small delegation from Los Angeles are in Redwood City, California for a presentation before the U.S. Olympic Committee (USOC). The Mayor and his point person on this bid, Casey Wasserman, will have 45 minutes to make the case for L.A. and Southern California to host the 2024 Olympics. The other cities that have been invited to bid are Boston, Washington, D.C. and San Francisco. 

While none of the three other cities have hosted an Olympics, the L.A. Olympic story goes back 94 years ago to the 1920 Games in Belgium. L.A. businessman William May Garland attended those Games and informed the International Olympic Committee (IOC) that L.A. was interested in hosting the Games in the future. The IOC informed Garland that a large track and field stadium, to serve as the venue for the opening and closing ceremonies and the individual Olympic events, was a requirement to host the Games. Garland returned home and immediately went to work.

L.A.’s business and elected leaders developed a plan to build the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, which was finished in 1923. The IOC responded by awarding L.A. the 1932 Games. The Roaring 20s gave way to the Great Depression, but in 1932, L.A. hosted the first Olympics to ever make money – one million dollars. The 1932 Games featured many other firsts including the first Olympic Village for the athletes and the use of the first photo-finish camera. 

The well chronicled 1984 Olympic Games in L.A. also resulted in a surplus - $235 million – and seeded the LA84 Foundation that still helps provide thousands of local youths with athletic opportunities to build body and spirit. Perhaps the most enduring physical legacy from the 1984 games was the five year push to expand LAX with the addition of a second deck to serve the visitors who came to the Games. The addition made LAX one of the finest airports in the world in 1984. 

The winner of this week’s bid to be the U.S. entry in the world competition to host the 2024 Olympics will still have much work to do; but today’s winner will have the opportunity to put its best foot forward on the world stage of the IOU. 

The Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce sends its energy and encouragement to Mayor Garcetti and his delegation. We would be proud to leverage our strength to work with the Mayor, the Southern California Committee for the Olympic Games and many others to successfully propel L.A. to the winner’s podium when the IOC selects the host for 2024. 

And that's The Business Perspective.