L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti says his city is a sports town on the rise. “Between the NFL and the Olympics, suddenly L.A. is the sports city everyone’s abuzz about,” the mayor told THE DAILY Thursday in an exclusive interview. He said the torch may very well have been passed from Boston to L.A. to bid for the '24 Games: “Sept. 15 is when the country needs to submit a city, we’re pretty confident it looks good for L.A.” As for NFL expansion into the market, Garcetti would not divulge details except to say, “L.A.’s very well positioned.” The mayor talked sports on the sidelines of a gustatory expansion victory for the city -- Mario Batali & Co.’s Eataly emporium is opening its first West Coast location in L.A.’s Century City mall. In a speech to guests and media dining on pizza and prosciutto-wrapped bread sticks, Garcetti said he had dined with Batali in N.Y. 18 months ago trying to woo Eataly to L.A. Thursday's event officially marked the beginning of an $800M expansion of the mall by owner Westfield. The newly expanded mall also lured Nordstrom’s L.A. flagship from a neighboring shopping complex and the new Century City will be 50% bigger with more food, retail, and green space.
Robert Gray is a correspondent in L.A.
