Pundits, start your engines.
With the declaration that the U.S. Olympic Committee has reached agreement with Los Angeles to be a bid city for the 2024 Olympic Games, get ready for the barrage of reasons why Los Angeles is the right choice. We will hear about the city’s Olympic history, the venues already in place, the connection to Hollywood. All are pretty much irrelevant.
A quick history lesson. The USOC has had a rocky relationship with the International Olympic Committee (the people who choose the Olympic cities). Despite several attempts, the U.S. has not hosted a Summer Games since 1996. Finally, Chicago’s failed effort for 2016 broke the dam. Under new leadership from CEO Scott Blackmun and Chairman Larry Probst, the USOC has systematically worked to repair international relationships with one goal in mind: winning a Summer Games. After years of hard work, the stage was set. Then along came Boston. Its failure could have seen all that hard work go to waste, yet in an uncharacteristic move, Thomas Bach, head of the IOC, immediately came out and stated that it was a shame that Boston had failed the USOC and he hoped that the USOC would not get discouraged and that it should bring forward another city. The IOC actually suggested/told the USOC to pick another city. This is a testament to the new relationship the USOC has cultivated.
The 2017 vote is really about whether it is finally time to reward the USOC for all its hard work. This will be a national bid, and the market itself will be secondary.
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LA 2024 organizers will need to answer the question: Why Los Angeles?
Photo by: GETTY IMAGES
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This doesn’t make it a layup. Far from it. Los Angeles could have been put forward by the USOC in 2012, and again in 2016, and again in 2024 — and in each case, it wasn’t selected. So the one thing we know about Los Angeles is that whatever storyline it has been using in these bids isn’t working. It will need to change dramatically, and quickly. Organizers have their work cut out for them. Hopefully they will reach out to a lot of different voices who can help them sort out their true priorities. They will need to clearly define “Why Los Angeles?” They will need to offer a strong legacy. (Hint: Look at Agenda 2020, No. 19 for a start.) My counsel: Think less about your venue plan and more about what will resonate with the IOC.
So if Los Angeles does win the right to host in 2024 (which would mean it would need to beat a growing field of candidates including a formidable Paris bid), it will owe a heavy debt of gratitude to three groups: first, to Blackmun and to Probst, for doing all the heavy lifting; second, to New York and Chicago, for taking the lumps that helped pave the way for this opportunity; and last, to Boston, for getting out in time to give Los Angeles, and the USOC, a second chance at 2024.
Buckle up Los Angeles. You have a real shot at this.
Gordon Kane (victorysportsmarketing@gmail.com) has held management positions at the U.S. Olympic Committee, with both a U.S. host city and bid city, and now consults for companies on Olympic sponsorship opportunities.
