L.A. "threw down the gauntlet" to Paris with a plan that IOC Evaluation Commission Chair Patrick Baumann said had no major risks and venues that he described as "mind-blowing," according to Steve Keating of REUTERS. Baumann said, "Los Angeles is already a great Olympic city but after these three days we now realize that was an understatement. ... Their vision and concept have embraced the direction provided by the Olympic Agenda 2020 with the extensive use of existing facilities in particular. It goes from spectacular venues, to impressive venues to mind-blowing venues." There was "no need for commission members to close their eyes and imagine" what a 2024 Los Angeles Olympics might look like with the bid "built around already existing world class facilities." The L.A. proposal, budgeted for a "modest" $5.3B, calls for no new venue construction. Baumann: "There is still some work to be done, not everything can happen overnight but we think there are excellent bases here" (REUTERS, 5/13).
L.A. TOUR: The SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL's Ben Fischer reported L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti said that the city’s bid for the 2024 Games would do better if not for IOC ethics rules that keep most voting members from visiting the city. "I feel stronger and stronger ... if we’d have the opportunity for 90-something IOC members to spend the kind of time -- which would have been reasonable and can be reasonable potentially in the future -- with a city for a couple days, I think Los Angeles’ strengths would have shown for themselves,” Garcetti said. The group in L.A. included "just eight of the 89 members who can vote in the contest after illness and schedules forced three to miss the trip." It was a "chance to show off the Olympic plan’s unusually appealing features, like the neatly manicured, vibrant UCLA campus, which will serve as the athlete’s village during the Games." IOC Olympic Games Exec Dir Christophe Dubi said, "One of the things we concluded ... is we all want to go back to studies." The IOC members on Thursday "hit 37 of 38 venues, missing only Lake Perris -- 74 miles inland from downtown, where rowing and canoe-kayak will play." They used an "augmented reality tool to view the L.A. Memorial Coliseum as it would look after major renovations." Media members also saw the $700M dorm development at USC that will "house reporters." One of L.A.'s "potential weaknesses, the distances between some of the venues," was indirectly referenced a few times by participants discussing the "long day" (Ben Fischer, SportsBusiness Journal).
'EMOTIONAL' CHOICE: The ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER's Scott Reid reported LA 2024 and city officials refused to "cede any emotional ground to a Paris bid linked to the 100th anniversary of the 1924 Games." Garcetti said, "L.A. is the emotional choice. I don't think it's just the rational choice. I think the emotion is in place. This is the city that loves the Olympics. This is the city that breathes the Olympics" (ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER, 5/11). The AP's Harris & Blood wrote the city "notorious for its clotted freeway traffic will make use of a 'growing public transit system,' the LA proposal boasts." L.A. has "billions of dollars of planned rail lines, some of which are under construction and not scheduled to be completed" until '23 or '24 (AP, 5/12).
