The LA 2024 bid group this week is detailing to a group of IOC officials how it would put on a uniquely conservative and predictable Games, relying on a private budget, sports venues that already exist and infrastructure that is in place or already financed. L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti said the city wants to teach future Olympic hosts the lessons of frugality in planning, too. “We want to have lessons from Los Angeles that are replicable to other cities as well,” he said during an evening press conference on the floor of Staples Center. "We think most cities have much more of a sports infrastructure than they might realize. They think they need to build out much more for 2.5 weeks, to have all the people in it for that moment, and then never have that many people watching that sport again." L.A. will use UCLA dorms to host athletes, USC dorms to host media, L.A. Memorial Coliseum for track and field and the Rams’ Inglewood development for the Opening and Closing ceremonies. Inside an all-day private meeting at the J.W. Marriott at L.A. Live, 19 different people made presentations to the IOC commission. U.S. Deputy Secretary of Homeland Security Elaine Duke and LAPD Chief Charlie Beck presented on security measures.
UNIQUE ELEMENTS TO THE BID: Two unusual features of the L.A. bid emerged as key discussion points: The Opening and Closing ceremonies in two places at once and the clustering of most sports into four secured-perimeter "sports parks." To placate L.A. city politicians, LA 2024 agreed in January to host a celebration at the L.A. Coliseum at the same time as the official Opening Ceremony at the Rams’ stadium. Bid Chair Casey Wasserman said, "Just to be clear, there will be one Olympic ceremony. As you know it today, the Opening Ceremony will be at the new Rams/Chargers stadium in Inglewood. What we're talking about is a city-wide celebration leading up to that Opening Ceremony." Also, LA 2024 will locate many of its sports inside one of four sports parks. These are smaller versions of the singular Olympic Park concept made popular in London and Rio, where fans can freely circulate from one sport to another inside a secure zone or simply enjoy the atmosphere. L.A. has designs to create sports parks in Long Beach, StubHub Center, downtown L.A. and the San Fernando Valley. “These are aggregations of venues that already exist,” Garcetti said. The IOC visit continues tomorrow with venue tours. Reporters got a head start on the venue tours yesterday, seeing the Rose Bowl, StubHub Center and the Long Beach Convention Center. The bid secured Brandi Chastain to host at the Rose Bowl, where she famously won the '99 FIFA Women’s World Cup with a penalty kick. "Tomorrow, we're going to try to show the IOC what we can spend the next seven years doing instead of pouring time, money and concrete into complex, controversial and costly construction,” Wasserman said.
CANDID CAMERAS: The polished team of Wasserman and Garcetti relished the chance to take questions on camera, and Garcetti said he would have no objection to conducting the entire commission meeting in public. With new rules strictly limiting bid campaigning, this week is one of the few times LA 2024 could engage in such explicit campaigning, either to the international media or to IOC members. Garcetti said he would eagerly take advantage if he were allowed to campaign more. "Absolutely, if the rules were loosened up, we would have engaged very vigorously,” Garcetti said. He said the rules are "like dating in a straight jacket." Garcetti: "It's a little difficult to wrap your arms around each other, but we're trying to do as much as we can."
