LA 2024 Chief Calls Bid 'Poster Child' for Agenda 2020

(ATR) Los Angeles 2024 can be the "poster child" for the International Olympic Committee Agenda 2020, says bid chairman Casey Wasserman.

Speaking in London ahead of next week’s IOC Evaluation Commission visit, Wasserman took the opportunity to extol the virtues of the LA bid to a group of reporters.

He made a point of repeatedly mentioning the bid was "privately funded".

Olympic Agenda 2020 is the pet project of IOC president Thomas Bach and included reforms to the bidding process for the Olympic Games. The aim to make it easier and cheaper for cities to become candidates.

While the reforms were approved in December 2014, the results have been mixed as far as Olympic bids go. A number of cities pulled out of the bidding for the 2022 Winter Games and the 2024 Summer Games. Public opposition to the cost and scale of the Games led to the collapsed bids.

However, Wasserman was confident that Los Angeles 2024 could be the perfect way to showcase the benefits of Bach’s strategic roadmap.

"We take Agenda 2020 very seriously," Wasserman said. "It’s fundamental in the way we thought about putting our bid together and in many ways LA is the poster child for Agenda 2020.

"And so this is not just about a bid that looks good for Agenda 2020, this is about the most Games ready low-risk bid maybe in Olympic history and that’s what we take seriously and are very proud of."

Wasserman and his LA 2024 team say the bid is low risk because no construction will be needed for venues or infrastructure. The plan for Los Angeles calls for the use of existing venues as well as temporary arenas. The plush dormitories of UCLA would be used as the Olympic Village, eliminating a $1 billion + construction project that had been part of the early plans in Los Angeles.

The IOC inspection team, led by IOC member Patrick Baumann, will begin their three-day inspection in California on May 9.

Wasserman said his team is excited about the upcoming test.

"The [plans] are extensive," he said. "It’s a comprehensive three days. The IOC has been incredibly prescriptive about what they want to see and what they don’t want to us to do and we’re excited to show off LA.

"So [we’re] excited to have some sunshine and excited to take them to venues that exist and that they can touch and feel and we’re excited about it."

The IOC has talked about the possibility of awarding the 2028 Olympics at the same time as 2024 during the session in Lima, Peru in September.

Paris insists it is solely focused on winning the 2024 vote. Wasserman says the same goes for Los Angeles.

"We’re only bidding for 2024 because that’s all the bid process has been for so to be talking about anything else would be irresponsible and premature," he said.

While Wasserman said he applauds the IOC for setting up a working group to look at whether such a decision would be feasible, he admitted that the US would not enter a separate race for 2028 should they be unsuccessful in September.

He said: "No [to entering separate 2028 bid race] and it’s not anything to do with our lack of desire for hosting the Games it has to do with the practical reality that we’re a privately funded enterprise.

"We’re not a government vehicle and so raising $60 million, which is what we’ve raised and spent in this process, is a significant undertaking and I’m not sure that’s something that any city in America could do two bid cycles in a row."

Should the United States fail in their third successive attempt to bring the Summer Olympics to the nation for the first time since Atlanta 1996, Wasserman said the USOC would face serious questions about where it would go from there.

"I think the USOC would be forced to ask itself maybe we just don’t know how to bid for things," Wasserman said. "They clearly talked about that at their board meeting, they clearly questioned if we lose here was it something they need to take a break from for a decade – who knows.

"Those are all questions the USOC will have to consider after this process if we were to lose for sure because while it is not a financial burden to them, because they don’t pay for it, it is a burden in every other way and a distraction from their core mission to serve American athletes as they look to compete in the Games."

The previous U.S. bid failures include New York in 2012 and Chicago for 2016. In each of those bids, LA tried in vain to be the U.S. nominee.

Written and reported in London by Christian Radnedge.

Follow him on Twitter @ChristianRad

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