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2024 Los Angeles Olympics would cost $4.1 billion
A $4.1 billion Los Angeles bid would not cost significantly less than the $4.595 billion Boston games, though experience has shown that when it comes to the Olympics, projection and reality can be far apart.
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2024 Los Angeles Olympics would cost $4.1 billion
A 2024 Olympic Games in Los Angeles would cost $4.1 billion, not including an additional $400-million contingency fund, according to Jeff Millman, an advisor to Mayor Eric Garcetti.
The city would be on the hook for any cost overruns, though Millman said officials are projecting a sizable surplus. $4.1 billion is the same figure Los Angeles officials used when they presented their bid in December, before Boston was chosen.
Millman said discussions with the United States Olympic Committee are just beginning. Any announcement about the details of LA's bid would likely would not come until mid-September, when the USOC has to decide on which American city, if any, it will nominate to host the games.
The price tag of LA's Olympics bid was first reported by the Los Angeles Times on Monday, after Garcetti and sports agent Casey Wasserman told the paper's editorial board that LA's bid would be "dead on arrival" if it did not include a pledge that the city would be on the hook for cost overruns.
"I think it is right for this city. I think it's who we are," Garcetti said of LA's Olympics proposal. "I think we benefit from it economically, socially."
Boston's Olympic boosters also promised the games would generate surplus money. Nonetheless, Boston mayor Martin J. Walsh said last month he wouldn't agree to cover cost-overruns.
A $4.1 billion Los Angeles bid would not cost significantly less than the $4.595 billion Boston games, though experience has shown that when it comes to the Olympics, projection and reality can be far apart.
For instance, original estimates for the London games were in the $4 to $5 billion range. They ended up costing closer to $15 billion.
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