LA proposes using Coliseum as main venue in first bid to IOC for 2024 Olympics

The Sports Xchange

9 years ago

Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum is seen before the MLB interleague exhibition baseball game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Boston Red Sox March 29, 2008. Almost 115,000 people bought tickets to watch the Dodgers celebrate the 50th anniversary of their move to Los Angeles, setting a U.S. baseball crowd record. REUTERS/Phil McCarten (UNITED STATES) – RTR1YWHF

Fans file into the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum before the MLB interleague exhibition baseball game between the Los Angeles Dodgers and the Boston Red Sox in Los Angeles March 29, 2008. Almost 115,000 people bought tickets to watch the Dodgers celebrate the 50th anniversary of their move to Los Angeles, setting a U.S. baseball crowd record. REUTERS/Phil McCarten (UNITED STATES) – RTR1YWHR

Los Angeles has submitted the first installment of the city’s bid for the 2024 Summer Olympics, focusing on cost efficiency to host the Games.

The 56-page document was delivered to the International Olympic Committee in Switzerland on Wednesday morning.

According to the Los Angeles Times, the venue map shows a renovated Coliseum serving as the main Olympic stadium, with basketball at Staples Center, soccer at the Rose Bowl and beach volleyball on Santa Monica beach.

The planned NFL stadium in Inglewood — which is expected to be completed by the 2019 season to host at least the Los Angeles Rams — is mentioned only briefly.

Officials propose to use UCLA as an athletes village, house media at USC and partner in the construction of a media center on the NBCUniversal Studios lot, according to the Times.

“We all know that Los Angeles is a city that breathes Olympism,” Mayor Eric Garcetti said in a separate statement released Tuesday afternoon. “It’s in our DNA.”

The first official installment does not include many specifics on financing for a project that could exceed $6 billion.

However, officials used words such as “prudent” and “conservative” to insist they can avoid a deficit.

The bid itself will cost an estimated $40 million to $55 million, the document stated.

The LA 2024 Olympic bid logo and slogan — “Follow the sun” — were unveiled Tuesday night.

“The soaring figure of the logo is a symbol of athletes reaching for their dreams, the original Spanish name for Los Angeles ‘the City of Angels,’ and the Angeleno spirit of optimism and progress that defines Southern California,” LA 2024 said in a press release.

“The figure is illuminated, lifted and empowered by the rays of the sun, which emanate from a sparkling point of light at the figure’s heart — a palette of colors often seen in the city sky both at dawn and sunset. The sun itself, which LA calls its brightest star, inspires LA 2024’s slogan, Follow the Sun.”

Los Angeles is bidding against Budapest, Paris and Rome for the 2024 Games. IOC members will vote in September 2017 to determine the 2024 Olympic host.

The United States last hosted a Summer Olympics in 1996 (Atlanta) and a Winter Olympics in 2002 (Salt Lake City).