Los Angeles’ bid committee for the 2024 Olympic Games has selected UCLA (University of California, Los Angeles) halls of residence as the proposed site of the Olympic Village. 

The Media Village would be housed at the University of Southern California (USC), in the event of Los Angeles winning the bid to host the 2024 Olympic Games.

“LA 2024 is first and foremost focused on the athletes and when we looked across the city at possible accommodations options, it became clear that we can offer the best personalized experience for athletes and other participants through existing facilities at UCLA and USC,” said Gene Sykes, CEO of LA 2024.

“With these excellent residences at USC and UCLA, LA 2024 has developed an innovative Games Plan that aligns closely with Olympic Agenda 2020’s sustainability and fiscal discipline goals.”

Building and finding suitable legacy use for athletes’ villages is a challenge for the organisers of mega sports events. 

LA 2024 had previously planned to build a new village for the Games, but with projected costs rising in excess of US$1bn the bid committee has proposed a more sustainable solution.

“We have carefully chosen facilities that are sustainable, fiscally responsible and athlete-friendly,” said Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti. 

UCLA will house all eligible athletes and team officials at its residential facilities. All of these facilities are either newly built or recently renovated and incorporate modern design, spacious layouts, social gathering places, and the latest technology and conveniences. 

The Olympic Village offers world-class training centres on site, allowing athletes the convenience of training for their events without having to travel outside the Village. The Village already includes the Drake Stadium, a 400-meter track and field venue. Other facilities will include an Olympic-size swimming and diving pools, gym, tennis, basketball, beach volleyball and other recreation and training facilities. 

“UCLA’s played a special and unforgettable part in my sporting career. It has always provided me with an environment in which to excel, and now I’m training for Rio 2016 at UCLA’s facilities,” said Dawn Harper-Nelson, Beijing 2008 Olympic gold and London 2012 Olympic silver medalist hurdler and UCLA graduate.

“I have experienced both UCLA’s residences and two Olympic Villages, and UCLA measures up perfectly. I am delighted that athletes from across the world will have the opportunity to experience the university’s best-in-class facilities if LA is selected as host city.”

Members of the media, officials and other stakeholders will be housed at USC, which offers newly renovated accommodations located around its Collegiate Gothic-style campus. USC is constructing a new 15-acre residential and retail village, which will house 2,700, and offers a grocery, drugstore, fitness centre, restaurants and retail stores.

USC’s campus and the new USC Media Village are located in the heart of the Downtown Games Cluster, within walking distance to events held at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, USC Galen Center, Staples Center, Microsoft Theater and the renovated Convention Center.

“As a USC alum, I’m proud that the media, officials and other supporters of the athletes will have the opportunity to call USC’s world-class campus home during the Games,” said Janet Evans, LA 2024 Vice Chair and Director of Athlete Relations.

“USC is already home to thousands of international students and offers housing of the highest possible quality. The proximity of this housing to LA’s sporting venues will transform the media’s Games-time experience, ensuring optimum living and working conditions.”

LA 2024 Vice Chair and four-time Olympic swimming champion Janet Evans attended Host City 2015 conference in Glasgow this week, marking the start of a busy period for the LA 2024 Candidature Committee which includes attending the IOC 2024 Candidate City workshops in Lausanne (November 19-20) and the European Olympic Committees (EOC) General Assembly in Prague (November 20-21).

The Host City 2015 conference, which took place in Glasgow on November 9-10, offered Evans, who is also LA 2024 Director of Athlete Relations, the chance to learn from the experiences of a range of leaders from across the Olympic Movement.

LA 2024 Chairman Casey Wasserman said: “We are delighted that Janet is attending the Host City conference in Glasgow with so many Olympic experts present. We are very much in our ‘looking, listening and learning’ phase and these types of events are an invaluable part of this process.

“We will also send a significant LA 2024 delegation to Lausanne for the IOC 2024 Candidate City workshops; which will provide the ideal opportunity to engage and interact with the IOC on the path ahead.

“The EOC General Assembly in Prague represents a further opportunity, after the ANOC General Assembly in Washington, D.C., to consult with the NOC family. Their athletes are at the very heart of the Olympic Movement and IOC President Thomas Bach’s visionary Olympic Agenda 2020. The NOCs have a critical role in preparing and supporting athletes, so it is vital that we consult with them whenever possible.”

An LA-based company has won the contract to be the official executive producer of the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2015 Special Olympic World Games, which take place in the city next summer.

The work was awarded through a competitive bidding process on the back of FiveCurrents’ experience working on 12 Olympic Games, four Paralympic Games and nine major multi-sport events over the last 25 years.

“Having produced the Opening Ceremonies of back-to-back Olympic Games, we are looking forward to bringing the world together to celebrate another once-in-a-lifetime moment of international pride right here in our home state and country,” said Scott Givens, president of FiveCurrents.

Most recently, FiveCurrents worked on the Sochi 2014 Olympic Opening and Closing Ceremonies. They were also the production company behind Danny Boyle’s celebrated London 2012 Olympic Opening Ceremony and will also be working on the European Games in Baku next year.  

80,000 spectators are expected to attend the Opening Ceremony at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on Saturday, July 25, 2015. The ceremony will be broadcast live and distributed internationally by ESPN, the Official Broadcaster of the 2015 Special Olympics World Games.

The opening ceremony will put the athletes at the centre of the celebrations, with the final leg of the “Law Enforcement Torch Run” culminating in a Parade of Athletes and the lighting of the Special Olympics cauldron. 

“We are looking forward to creating the stage that will celebrate the courage, determination and joy of our athletes,” said Patrick McClenahan, President and Chief Executive Officer of LA2015. “With the support of FiveCurrents, we will welcome the world as we cast a spotlight on acceptance and inclusion.”

The 2015 Special Olympics World Games will run from July 25nd until August 2nd. With 7,000 athletes representing 177 countries, the event can claim to be the “largest sports and humanitarian event anywhere in the world in 2015, and the single biggest event in Los Angeles since the 1984 Olympic Games.”

Los Angeles is vying against Boston, San Francisco and Washington DC to become the US Olympic Committee’s candidate for the Olympic Games in 2024, a decision on which is expected to be made early in 2015.

As a distance swimmer, Janet Evans broke seven world records and won five Olympic medals. But she is in a different kind of race now, as vice chair and director of athlete relations at LA24 – the bid committee for Los Angeles.

Los Angeles is one of four cities bidding for the 2024 Olympic Games, along with Budapest, Paris and Rome. How these cities interpret Olympic Agenda 2020, the IOC’s “strategic roadmap for the Olympic movement”, will be crucial to their success.

Evans spoke with Host City at SportAccord Convention about how her city’s ambitions are aligned with those of the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

Use what you already have

A primary challenge for cities bidding for and hosting the Olympic Games is to have venues that are used an on-going basis in the city, while also being optimised for Games time. 

This is not only a logistical issue but also a financial and reputational one – so much so that the IOC, which holds the rights to the Olympic Games and brand, has placed venue sustainability at the heart of its strategy. 

The first of the 40 recommendations of Olympic Agenda 2020 states “The IOC to actively promote the maximum use of existing facilities and the use of temporary and demountable venues.”

Evans says, “It’s interesting that 97 per cent of our venues will be built before 2024 irrespective of our bid. A lot of new venues are already going up for various sporting events within southern California. The only permanent venue we’d have to build would be a new kayak venue.”

The iconic Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum served as the Olympic Stadium in 1932 and 1984 and would take centre stage again in 2024. Over the years the venue has hosted NFL, Major League Baseball, soccer and entertainment events in addition to regular sporting events staged by its owner, the University of Southern California (USC).

USC Athletics is funding a US$270m renovation of the Coliseum that is planned, Evans says, “irrespective of our bid”. These works are scheduled to take place between 2017 and 2019.

Another big conundrum for host cities is how to accommodate athletes during the Games. As with sports venues, possible solutions include building for legacy use, or using temporary or existing facilities. LA24 has opted for the latter, arranging for USC and the city’s other big university, UCLA, to accommodate athletes on its campus during the Games. 

“It’s a great place for athletes as there are a lot of training facilities,” says Evans. “A lot of our athletes in the US come through the university training system so we are very pleased with our choice of UCLA.”

Listen to the IFs

Another challenge faced by Olympic bidding and organising committees is to make sure their venue plans are in line with the priorities of the international federations (IFs) that govern Olympic sports. Many IFs have expressed frustration with the Organising Committee of the Olympic Games (OCOG) for Rio 2016, with construction running behind schedule. 

Olympic Agenda 2020 sets out to avoid this happening in future by determining to “enhance the role of the IFs in the planning and delivery of the Olympic competitions, including the study of transferring technical responsibilities from the OCOGs to the IFs.”

Evans says having most of the venues already built enables LA24 to focus on engaging with IFs during the bidding phase; and events like Host City and SportAccord Convention give bidding cities the opportunity to do so.

“It’s wonderful to be here to listen and learn and understand what federations would like to see in a bid and help bring that into our bid and understand things,” says Evans.

Between January and April 2016, Evans and LA24’s sports director Doug Arnot met with all 28 Olympic IFs to ask them about their priorities for their sports. “It was a real listening and learning exercise, so we could go home and take that back to our team and say, here’s what this IF would really like to see.

“And another thing we feel is that if and when we win the Games, since our venues are built, we can spend seven years working not only on venues and upgrades but also on making the athlete experience great. So I think the sustainability of LA and the fact that our venues are built is really powerful.”

Athletes at the heart

Another key aim of Agenda 2020 is to “put the athletes’ experience at the heart of the Olympic Games”. This is the Evans’ main area of focus now –  “I know that’s what President Bach wants to see,” she says.

To achieve this, she is tapping into the US’s enviable network of Olympians and Paralympians – not just US natives but also Olympic alumni who have competed for other countries in the Games and now live in the US.

LA24 is running a road show of “Athlete Town Hall” meetings. “We want to ask for the input and advice of athletes. We felt there was no better way to receive that input than to speak to them in person.

“We are looking for opinions and advice and things that we can make better and things that were loved by the athletes.”

The first Athlete Town Hall meeting was in the Miami and Fort Lauderdale area of south Florida in early April. LA24 is to conduct between 12 and 15 of these meetings over the course of 2016 in cities throughout the US.

“We see this as a national bid, not just a bid for the state of California or the city of Los Angeles. It’s a bid from our entire country to bring the summer Games back to the US for the first time since 1996.”

Culture and creativity

Another aim of Agenda 2020 is to achieve a “further blending of sports and culture”. Los Angeles is famed for its entertainment industry, but Evans says this is just one part of the mix. 

“I think Los Angeles is in a true renaissance. We have US$88bn of infrastructure going into our new transport system, in our airport; our city is changing everything – it’s vibrant and hip. We have this great accumulation of the entertainment world as well as technology and creativity.

“I believe if we have the honour of hosting the Games there are so many interesting things we could do to help promote sport and bring youth into the Games. Los Angeles is a mecca of creativity, of innovation, of change and I think that’s evident when you come to our city.”

Recent allegations and revelations of doping and bribery in some Olympic sports are a reputational threat to the Games. Asked what LA24 can do to safeguard against these threats, Evans says “I think there’s a lot of joy and positive things that are in this movement. That’s what we all believe in – I believe in the Olympic movement and what it does for future generations and in what athletics can portray to the world. 

“We want to bring the positive – I want to find out what the athletes can bring to other people. I want everyone to experience the Olympics for what they really are, which is what I see as the Olympics, which is this great celebration of humanity, peace and friendship and continuity.

“So I think that’s what we need to remember: the Olympics are an incredible movement and I’m just proud to be a small part of it.”

After the film La La Land won six Oscars, seven Golden Globes and five BAFTAs you would have thought that Los Angeles is getting bored in 2017 celebrating the success of its city and famous residents.

Don’t believe that for one Hollywood minute. That’s because the US city is still in the running for perhaps the year’s biggest prize of all – the hosting rights to the 2024 Olympic Games.

The race to host the 2024 Games is down to two candidate cities and in September the International Olympic Committee (IOC) session in Lima, Peru, will decide whether it’s LA or Paris that gets the nomination.

With the 130^th IOC session fast approaching, the LA and Paris bid committees have been busy putting together the final touches of their showreel in order to garner votes for the 2024 election.

One major showcase for both bids was the 2017 SportAccord Convention (SAC) in Aarhus, Denmark in April.

Vive la difference

The French capital put forward its bid of being ‘the right city, with the right vision at the right moment’. It also promised international federations and the Olympic movement that it would host the “most spectacular Games ever”.

The Paris presentation revealed that 95% of venues were already existing or temporary and the city’s ultra-compact plan would ensure that 85% of venues will be within 30 minutes of the athletes’ village.

Strong stuff from the “City of Light”, which is hoping to mark 100 years since it last hosted the Olympics in 1924.

And during LA’s 15 minutes in the spotlight at SAC, Los Angeles mayor Eric Garcetti told delegates: “It’s important we draw a distinction in our vision, because although many believe the two bids in this race are quite similar… they are, in fact, very different.”

Privately-financed bid

With the heart of the film industry within its boundaries, it comes as no surprise that the Californians presented a strong narrative. When Host City asked LA 2024 Candidature Committee chairman Casey Wasserman if the entertainment industry could be drawn on for a potential LA 2024 Games, he replied: “We are very proud of our storytelling community, that’s what Hollywood is all about. When people want to speak to the world they come to LA. We think our ability of leverage that and bring that to the Olympic Games will be tremendous.”

While LA will bring some razzmatazz to the Olympic Games, the city’s bid has another very big USP regarding the bid’s funding.

“We are a privately-financed bid,” Angela Ruggiero, chief strategy officer for the LA 2024 Candidature Committee, former ice hockey star and IOC executive board member told Host City.

“That’s very different from a government-financed project where you are sort of at the whim of the government. We’ve made that one of our key focal points as a bid is to have the lowest-risk approach with the most sound budget.”

LA will require federal support for security matters, but the operations and management overlay is financed through the individual projects. “That’s a distinguishing factor between the two bids and we wanted to highlight that because we do things differently in regards to hosting events,” added Ruggiero.

“We don’t have sports ministers for example. The way that we promote sport is through the private sector. Budgets can’t be slashed, therefore it’s a different kind of model.”

For venues, LA has adopted a low-risk approach of utlising the city’s extensive existing sports assets. This tactic has helped grow public support in the Olympic bid to 88%.

One asset, for example, is the LA Memorial Coliseum, which is planned to host the medal ceremonies and track-and-field events in 2024. On May 3 it was announced that the University of Southern California had secured approval from the Coliseum Commission to proceed with its $270 million privately funded upgrade of the LA Memorial Coliseum.

The elephant in the room at SAC

With two very strong and well-supported bids, one major city is going to miss out when the IOC makes its big decision in September. Or will it?

The IOC Session in Lima could in fact name the host city for both 2024 and 2028 – meaning both Paris and LA win the right to host a summer games. A working group composed of the IOC’s four vice presidents is currently evaluating this possibility.

Juan Antonio Samaranch, IOC vice-president, told a select group of journalists at SAC: “Basically what we are doing is not talking about 2024, internally we are thinking of how we can be more flexible to have a selection system that better suits our interests and the interests of the Olympic movement. The ideas that we might have for 2024 and 2028 are serious ones, but there is a process and both cities know what the process is.”

Paris’ committee has said it only wants to host in 2024 while LA chairman Wasserman was also straight with his answer. He told Host City: “We are bidding for 2024. There should be no confusion about that. I applaud the IOC for their thinking because it’s strategic and timely, but it’s also hypothetical. We’re bidding for 2024. Hypotheticals are not interesting.”

Next on the agenda for the IOC and the LA and Paris committees is the 2024 candidate briefing for IOC members and Summer Olympic IFs in July.

Once that’s complete it will be back to the drawing board for both cities to put the finishing touches to their candidature bids.

Will LA’s bid script see that big Hollywood ending? We will wait and see in September.

SportAccord Convention is delighted to announce Discover Los Angeles will be the exclusive Global Partner at its 15th edition of the Convention, taking place from 2–7 April 2017 in this year’s European Capital of Culture, Aarhus in Denmark.

Since its founding on September 4, 1781, Los Angeles has grown into a dynamic metropolis with its eye on the future, while preserving its extraordinary cultural heritage. LA is one of the most ethnically diverse cities in the world, making it a truly global city. From San Pedro to the San Fernando Valley, LA is home to 211 sites that are on the National Register of Historic Places. As the entertainment capital of the world and its rich legacy of sport, Los Angeles has a long history when it comes to culture and sport.

Discover Los Angeles President & CEO Ernest Wooden Jr. said, “An epicentre of the sports and entertainment universe, Los Angeles is committed to delivering championship calibre sporting events on the world’s greatest stage. We are excited to be the Global Partner of the SportAccord Convention for the first time and look forward to showcasing L.A.’s unparalleled culture of creativity, innovation and entertainment.”

Held in a different city each year, the annual SportAccord Convention is a unique opportunity for key decision-makers from sport and industry to meet, network and strategically shape global, regional and national agendas. A 6-day event with 1500 delegates expected to attend, organisations can take advantage of the many opportunities offered at the world’s premier and most exclusive annual event focused on the business of sport.

Nis Hatt, Managing Director of SportAccord Convention said, “We are delighted to welcome Discover Los Angeles onboard as the Global Partner for the SportAccord Convention. A diverse city, its rich cultural heritage makes Los Angeles one of the ‘go-to’ destinations, and delegates will have every opportunity to connect and discover more during the Convention.”

The Discover Los Angeles team will be found at Stand 37.