Should Los Angeles host the 2024 Olympics?

The Olympics and their host cities have undergone immense scrutiny in recent times. Athens’ 2004 games have been linked with the current Greek economic crisis, the 2016 Rio games were in danger of simply not happening, and Boston’s organizers recently withdrew their bid for the 2024 Olympics due to citizen complaints. Yet every two years the United States Olympic Committee (USOC) submits a bid to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to host the games. The IOC is currently in the process of selecting a host for the 2024 Olympics, and the United States’ candidate city is Los Angeles. Frankly, I believe hosting the Olympics in Los Angeles is an excellent idea, despite the bad press.

2024 marks the 40^th anniversary of the 1984 Summer Olympics, which also happen to have taken place in Los Angeles. The 1984 games are remembered as the most profitable Olympics ever, and all Olympic planners, including those campaigning for Los Angeles in 2024, can learn something from studying those games. Peter Ueberroth, Los Angeles businessman and Times’ 1984 man of the year, was the chief organizer of the 1984 games, and is credited with their financial success. To make Ueberroth’s feat even more impressive, the 1984 games had no public funding, as the US government did not sponsor the city’s bid. Perhaps this fact galvanized Ueberroth: he closed unprecedented corporate sponsorship deals and remarkable rounds of private investment, and managed to sell the games’ TV rights far in advance of the opening ceremonies. Through these avenues he acquired enough money to host the games, if spent wisely. And spend wisely he did: perhaps the most ingenious part of Ueberroth’s Olympics was his architecture plan, which combatted the immense building costs usually associated with the games. Ueberroth’s Olympic Stadium was USC’s Memorial Coliseum, and his Olympic village was dorms at USC, UCLA, and UCSB. By using these preexisting venues, he didn’t need to worry about building significant structures, which normally costs billions of dollars, and, in recent years, has become associated with human rights violations. The use of preexisting venues also dodges the problem of venue legacy—perhaps you’ve seen pictures of Brazil’s crumbling World Cup stadiums or Greece’s former-Olympic-village-turned-ghost-town. The Memorial Coliseum will continue to host USC football games and the dorms will continue to house college students after the Olympics. In addition, the only buildings that were built for the 1984 games were a velodrome and aquatic center. The aquatic center now belongs to USC and the velodrome is actively used.

All these lessons are great—but only if they’re applied. And based on the bid book provided by Los Angeles 2024, many of them will be taken and applied.

The book notes the attention that will be given to sponsors and corporate partnerships. Los Angeles is one of the world’s largest media markets, and the games’ organizers promise “sponsors will have the opportunity to create energetic atmospheres in some of LA’s most recognizable places.” If LA24 could match Ueberroth’s success in acquiring sponsorship deals, it would maximize their odds of becoming profitable.

USC’s Memorial Coliseum will once again host the opening and closing ceremonies, avoiding the costs and problems associated with building a new stadium. LA24 will build some new facilities, however, including their Olympic village. The proposed Olympic village is at the LA transportation center, located downtown and along the river. While they will have to construct this facility from scratch, the LA24 planners will have something the LA84 planners never had: government support. The US government does not operate under the same financial strain as countries that have been crushed by the Olympics (Greece, Brazil) and we shouldn’t share the same fears over opportunity costs as those countries had and still do.

All in all, LA24 organizers project a profit of $161 million, though benefits to the city will be more than just financial. When debating the costs and benefits of hosting the Olympics, it’s easy to forget just how enchanting the games can be. They bring nations together and inspire civic and national pride like no other event on the planet. The Olympics are a thoroughly entertaining and astonishing experience—an experience Los Angeles should take advantage of in 2024.