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Los Angeles to Host 2028 Olympics

Paris won out for 2024

Chris Chavez

Los Angeles has been named as the host of the 2028 Summer Games, the IOC announced Monday.

David Wharton of the Los Angeles Times reported earlier Monday that L.A. had reached an agreement to host the games. Mayor Eric Garcetti will hold a press conference in Los Angeles to announce the agreement later Monday.

As part of the host agreement, the IOC is giving the Los Angeles organizing committee a $1.8 billion advance “in view of the longer planning period [compared to Paris 2024] and to increase participation and access to youth sports programmes in the City of Los Angeles in the years leading up to the Games,” the IOC said in a statement.

Los Angeles and Paris were being considered for the 2024 Olympics. The IOC recently announced that it will award the 2024 and 2028 Olympics simultaneously on Sept. 13 at the 131st IOC Session in Lima, Peru.

The agreement by Los Angeles clears the way for Paris to host in 2024, where it will celebrate the centennial anniversary of hosting the 1924 Olympics. Throughout the bidding process, Paris has appeared less likely to be open to hosting the 2028 Games while Los Angeles was reportedly seeking some concessions for waiting the additional four years.

The 2028 games are expected to come with a higher price tag than the 2024 event, according to the New York Times. If the Olympics were to come in under budget, the city of Los Angeles has struck a deal to retain most of the contingency funds, according to the Los Angeles Times.

The United States has not hosted a Summer Olympics since Atlanta in 1996. Paris has not hosted a Summer Olympics since 1924. Los Angeles and Paris will join London as the only three-time hosts of the Summer Games.

Budapest, Hamburg and Rome dropped out of contention to host in 2024 due to the public outcry and referendums against any potential bid. Los Angeles and Paris appear to be viable options to host the Olympics with many facilities and venues already in place so there is less of a chance that the budget to host does not balloon to the level of recent games like Beijing ($40 billion) or Sochi ($51 billion). Paris’ bid does come with a $2 billion price tag to build an Olympic Village and an aquatics center.