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 By Jonathan Tolliver
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Los Angeles was officially selected on
Tuesday as the American candidate city that will bid to host the
2024 Summer Olympics after Boston pulled out of the race in July,
the U.S. Olympic Committee said.
Los Angeles, which has hosted the Summer Games twice before, in 1932
and 1984, will be among the front-runners and joins a race that
includes heavy favorite Paris, Rome, Budapest and Hamburg.
"It is my distinct honor today to formerly name the city of Los
Angeles as the U.S. bid city to host the 2024 Olympics," USOC Chief
Executive Officer Scott Blackmun told a news conference held just
off the beach front in Santa Monica.
The final obstacle facing the city's candidacy was cleared earlier
on Tuesday when the Los Angeles City Council voted unanimously to
pursue a bid for the 2024 Games, giving Los Angeles the chance to
become the only city besides London to host the Olympics three
times.
The resolution adopted on a 15-0 vote by the council allows the city
to negotiate financial terms of a hosting deal and bow out if it
cannot reach agreement with Olympic officials.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) will elect a winning bid
in September 2017.
"LA has the proven experience in hosting the Games, and knows how to
deliver world-class events for athletes and an extraordinary
experience for fans," Blackmun said in a statement.
"Coupled with the city's culture of creativity and innovation, we
are confident LA can deliver an outstanding Olympic and Paralympic
Games in 2024."
Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti said: "It is an honor for any city
to host the Olympic Games, and Los Angeles is uniquely prepared for
this task.
"With the unanimous support of our City Council, we are ready to
serve and strengthen the Olympic Movement and build a new Olympic
legacy."
The USOC had been under pressure to find another potential host with
the IOC having set a Sept. 15 deadline for interested cities to
submit a letter of intent.
EARLY HOT FAVORITE
Los Angeles had initially been considered the hot favorite to become
the U.S. candidate city ahead of the other finalists Boston,
Washington and San Francisco.
But the USOC in January opted for Boston and the bid seemed doomed
from the start as public support for the Massachusetts capital
eroded.
Officials took Boston out of contention, the city's mayor saying he
did not want to expose municipal taxpayers to the potential tab for
mammoth cost overruns the games have left other host cities.
However, the USOC said it had conducted several polls in the Los
Angeles area to gauge enthusiasm for another run at a Summer Games
and found overwhelming support.
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Los Angeles represents a possibly thrifty choice, in large part
because officials say most prospective event venues for the games
already exist, including Memorial Coliseum, which will be 101 years
old in 2024.
The group LA24, formed to pursue an Olympic bid, has put the total
estimated costs of hosting the Summer Games at $5.8 billion and has
committed to generating $4.1 billion of the total.
The rest would be left for private sources to raise, including an
estimated $925 million to build a new Olympic Village to house the
athletes.
Councilman Felipe Fuentes said his continued support hinged on
municipal officials maintaining a say over expenditures.
"The Olympic movement is looking to partner with cities to create a
new hosting model, a model that sheds excessive spending by using
existing venues and builds as little as necessary, and only invests
in development with clear community needs and a sustainable
purpose," said Blackmun.
"The IOC wants to partner with a city capable of hosting the games
without burdening the citizens with debt, instead using the games as
a catalyst to further the vision of the city's future and build a
legacy that benefits all citizens."
Boston's removal from the 2024 race proved an embarrassment for both
the USOC and IOC, which has seen a troubling drop in cities
interested in hosting a Games.
After four different candidates from Europe bidding for the 2022
Winter Games opted out, mostly because of concerns over costs, the
IOC was left with a choice between unlikely bids from Beijing and
Almaty, Kazakhstan, before finally settling on the Chinese capital.
Rio de Janeiro will host the Summer Games next year with Tokyo
holding the event for a second time in 2020.
(Additional reporting by Alex Dobuzinskis and Mark Lamport-Stokes;
Editing by Steve Gorman, Eric Beech and Frank Pingue)
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