Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti believes his city will be “stupid” if the city did not host the 2028 Olympic Games.
Earlier in July, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) moved close to an agreement that will allow Paris and Los Angeles to each host the Summer Games between now and 2028.
The two cities were the only ones left in the race to stage the 2024 Games and an IOC session voted that it would seek a “tri-partite agreement” for one host in 2024 and the other in 2028.
The original plan had been to choose one for 2024 at the next session in Lima on September 13, discard the other and start a whole new bidding process for 2028.
For the agreement to work, either one or both cities would have to be willing to accept the 2028 Games if they were not awarded 2024, the IOC said.
On Wednesday, July 26, Garcetti told BuzzFeed News that the agreement could be made as early as next week and that 2028 looked more likely than 2024 for Los Angeles.
“The bid is all but done we have won. The question is… Yes. Yeah. Thank you to the pole vaulter in the corner. I hope you’re still training too because we have high hopes for you (LAUGHS). But it is… 2024 is not probably most likely to happen.
“Even though the Olympics would be smart to pick us for 2024 because LA has always rebooted the brand. It’s funny. America has never won a competitive bid for the summer Games except for Atlanta. We always get it because no one else has left. In 1932 it was the Great Depression. L.A. is like “we’ll do it”. And literally they’re like “where’s L.A?” And they said “OK give it to them because nobody else will” and 1984 the Cold War.
“Montreal had had the 1976 Olympics and gone into debt. But after we do the Olympics there’s usually a line of cities that want to do it. And so the sooner the better.
“That said they’re making it financially and we’re negotiating this because we have some leverage financially so attractive we’d be stupid not to take 2028. And my dream with the Olympics is not just to hold the Olympics but to make sports free for every kid here starting in a year or two through our cities wreck and parks programs.
“So or you know $10 fee whatever something token, which would make us the healthiest city in America. Trump has not hurt us at all. He’s helped us. You, know obviously we talked to folks who would take a vote. There’s a lot of mixed feelings about America because of that,” Garcetti said.