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How to save the LA28 Olympics from the incompetence of Los Angeles leaders

May 3, 2025

I went to the Olympics in 1984 – not as an athlete nor a reporter but as a volunteer at the Olympic Village on the campus of UCLA. Just 16 years old, I swelled with pride at the chance to participate in this global celebration of unity and excellence through competitive sports. As a messenger, simply delivering envelopes and packages, I still felt part of the grand event. Meticulously planned and flawlessly executed, the 1984 Olympics remains the gold standard, notably achieving a small profit.

But for those who love this tremendous quadrennial event, the 2028 Los Angeles Games should spark alarm, not excitement. Today, Los Angeles is a shadow of that city, riddled with incompetence that threaten the Olympic legacy

Think about what it means to host the Olympics. Thousands of athletes, millions of visitors, and a hoard of media from all around the world – and a need to seamlessly coordinate venues, transportation, and security – with an infrastructure that can support it all. LA’s 1984 success leveraged existing facilities and fiscal prudence.

Today, the city’s fiscal health is declining rapidly. There are concerns that the $6.9 billion Olympic budget is already insufficient, with inflation and post-disaster rebuilding likely inflating costs by large amounts. Facing at least a $1 billion city budget deficit, Mayor Karen Bass has been walking the halls of the State Capitol, with hands out for a bailout. It’s not hard to find public critics voicing growing skepticism, openly questioning how a city drowning in debt can manage a global spectacle.

The recent tragic wildfires in the Pacific Palisades, Pasadena, and Altadena, which ravaged over 18,000 structures, claimed 28 lives, and caused over $40 billion in damages, have laid bare LA’s fragility. The effort to rebuild is paralyzed with only four permits issued for 6,000 homes in Palisades months later. While Olympic venues remain untouched, the city’s stretched resources, evidenced by Mayor Bass’s released budget including the termination of over 1600 city workers, paint a concerning picture.

How is Mayor Bass, or anyone, supposed to manage that act of miraculous multi-tasking – focusing on a city reeling from backbreaking debt, disaster recovery of epic proportions, and preparing for the Olympic Games? There is a growing sense that the Olympics may falter.

How are Olympic preparations coming along? Despite spending the city into debt, the homelessness crisis affecting over 75,000 people remains unresolved, festering. Advocates for the city’s homeless have launched “NOlympics LA,” raising all manner of concerns about the potential negative effects on that population. The city’s goal of a “car-free” Olympics is in chaos. Only 23 of the 3,000 promised bus shelters are installed. Planned Metro expansions face delays, and federal funding requests have been rejected, casting doubt on moving vast numbers of Olympic spectators efficiently. Sensing catastrophe, Olympics sponsors are withdrawing, and LA28’s leadership is unraveling, with key executives resigning. And who is excited to have Gov. Gavin Newsom declare the Olympics the “Recovery Games” where somehow the funds raised for this event are going to cure the ills of the state’s largest city?

Public trust is eroding. LA’s contract with the International Olympic Committee leaves the city liable for $270 million in initial cost overruns, with California on the hook for up to $270 million more. This isn’t the 1984 triumph in which I participated as a volunteer. It’s a city buckling under fiscal, social, and political pressures.

This isn’t the first time a U.S. Olympic Games has faced turmoil. The 2002 Salt Lake City Winter Games were mired in scandal and financial distress and public confidence was plummeting.

What the Olympics committee did then may provide a blueprint for getting LA28 back on track. They brought in Mitt Romney, then a former Massachusetts governor and turnaround expert. Appointed CEO of the Salt Lake Organizing Committee. Romney slashed costs, secured close to a billion dollars in sponsorships, and restored transparency. His leadership transformed the faltering Winter Games into a success.

Romney’s model—decisive, competent, and apolitical—proved that strong leadership can salvage an Olympic crisis. LA 2028 needs a similar rescue. With political leaders mired in deficits of their own making and distracted by crises, the IOC and LA28 must recruit a proven manager to oversee final preparations and execution. For those who love the Olympics, now is the time to demand this model to protect the Games’ legacy and restore the pride we all felt in 1984.

Jon Fleischman, a longtime political strategist in California, resides in Yorba Linda with his wife and two children.

Orange County Register

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How to save the LA28 Olympics from the incompetence of Los Angeles leaders

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