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Trump election won’t impact Olympics, LA28 officials say

November 15, 2024

LOS ANGELES — Officials organizing the 2028 Olympic Games said on Thursday that they do not expect the election of Donald Trump as president to impact the funding of Los Angeles’ third Olympics.

LA28 has a $6.9 billion budget funded by television rights, corporate sponsorships, marketing and ticket and merchandising revenue streams.

But security for the Games is expected to cost an additional $1-2 billion, which will largely be covered by the federal government. The Los Angeles Olympics have been designated as a National Special Security Event, and security will be handled by the Department of Homeland Security and the Secret Service. No federal funds will be used in the funding of the Games.

“I guess one of the effects of having done this for 10 years is this will be our third president but fourth administration,” said Casey Wasserman, the LA28 chairman and a prominent Democratic Party donor.

Putting on the Games, Wasserman said “requires cooperation and coordination. We’ve had great success with both Republican and Democratic administrations and have no doubt that will continue and starting during the election process, or the election cycle.”

LA28 officials were in contact with both the Trump and Harris campaigns and the Biden administration prior to last week’s election, Wasserman said. Trump was in office in 2017 when Los Angeles won its bid to host and signed federally binding documents for the government to deliver security and transportation for the Games.

“We had outreach from both transition teams so that they could get up to speed and get running once the election was over,” said Wasserman, who noted the Los Angeles Games are 1,338 days from opening on July 14, 2028. “And obviously, now that there’s an administration in place and that staff starts to fill up, we will continue to engage with them, just as we did previously, and we will continue to do through the end of the process.”

Wasserman’s comments came following three days of meetings between LA28 officials and International Olympic Committee Coordination Commission.

Los Angeles remains on track to deliver an “unparalleled” Olympic Games in 2028, said Nicole Hoevertsz, the head of the IOC commission.

The IOC commission’s first visit to Los Angeles since 2022 focused on “key areas of progress” with LA28’s plans for the city’s third Olympic Games and “key advancements” in the Games’ venue plan, Hoevertsz said. The commission on Thursday visited the Rose Bowl, the new Intuit Dome in Inglewood and the Long Beach Convention Center, waterfront and Marine Stadium.

With the meetings, Hoevertsz said, LA28 enters “a new phase, moving from strategy to action.”

“Los Angeles offers infinite possibilities setting the perfect stage for the Olympic and Paralympic Games and inspiring us all to work towards delivery of unparalleled Games in 2028,” Hoevertsz said.

“L.A. is the land of imagination, you see, and when the world looks at the city, it expects to be wowed, and with spectacular venues and landscape, the passion for sport, vibrant communities, and it’s breadth of culture and innovation, L.A. has all the ingredients to exceed those expectations.”

The venues and competition schedule for the 2028 Games could be completed by early next summer, LA28 CEO Reynold Hoover said.

That schedule could include the Olympic cricket competition being played on the East Coast. Wasserman said LA28 will find a venue for the sport that is best for both cricket and the Games. Softball and canoe slalom have already been moved 1,300 miles east to Oklahoma City.

“These Games are incredibly focused on L.A. and Southern California and being responsible and making hosting the Games fit our city and our community as opposed to fitting our city to host the games,” Wasserman said, “which is the mistake that has been made in the past and the promise we have made to the city and the community not to make going forward.”

Hoover said LA28 doesn’t have a timeframe for delivering an updated budget to the Los Angeles City Council. Earlier this year an LA28 official said the group would provide an updated budget to the city by the end of the year.

LA28’s next big milepost, Hoover said, is the organization’s move into its new headquarters in downtown Los Angeles this spring.

In 2026, the organizing committee will “get into some of the fun stuff,” Wasserman said, which includes opening up ticketing and hospitality options to the public, organizing the torch relay, creating a mascot, Cultural Olympiad and volunteer program.

“We cannot wait to host the world,” he said during a news conference on the campus of UCLA, which will host the athletes’ village.

Orange County Register

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Trump election won’t impact Olympics, LA28 officials say

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