(ATR) Chairman of the Los Angeles 2028 Olympic bid committee Casey Wasserman is confident the city will be able to provide the required guarantees in order to transition its bid from the 2024 to the 2028 Summer Games.
In the latest edition of ATRadio, Wasserman tells Around the Rings Editor Ed Hula that the only change in its new bid is an adjusted budget projection for an extra four years of lead time to the Games.
"So simple adjustments to the budget based on inflation are pretty straightforward," Wasserman says. "But no venue changes and no other changes – literally none.
"And that’s evidenced by the IOC taking an unprecedented step again of saying we don’t even need an evaluation commission, we’ll just have it as a phone call because the edits are small."
The 2024 Evaluation Commission led by Patrick Baumann visited Los Angeles in May to determine the city’s ability to host the 2024 Games. Baumann and his fellow commission members were effusive in their praise of the city and the bid’s approach towards hosting sustainable Games.
Wasserman tells ATR that all the stakeholders in the LA bid are on board with the switch to the 2028 Games following the city’s deference to Paris to host the 2024 edition.
"They are all on board – all stakeholders have been incredibly supportive and highly engaged in this dialogue. As I said, we are going to deliver a plan for 2028 that will show no changes."
The only hurdles remaining for LA to be confirmed as hosts of the 2028 Games are the signing of the 2028 Host City contract by the LA City Council – a decision that’s expected on Aug. 11 – and official approval of the dual Olympic award by the full IOC membership at the Session in Lima, Peru on Sep. 13.
Wasserman is confident both parties will rubber stamp the change in the bidding process.
"We will work the council in the meantime to answer any questions they may have and deal with any concerns they may have," he says. "On a parallel track, we are handling all the guarantees required by the IOC to complete our submission and have a successful day Sep. 13 in Lima."
With LA’s hosting rights for 2028 all but guaranteed, the bid begins working towards transitioning into an Organizing Committee. Wasserman tells ATR he will remain as the chairman of the OCOG through the end of the Games and that work will begin immediately after the Lima Session to begin the transition.
"There’s no time to relax and the one thing we cannot get more of is time in this effort," he says. "Any day we don’t get started on our job of delivering the greatest games possible in 2028 is a day that’s lost forever."
Listen below for the full interview with Wasserman and Hula:
Written by Kevin Nutley
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