LOS ANGELES (AP) - In another change to the original plan, the press center for Los Angeles’ bid to host the 2024 Olympics would be relocated to the University of Southern California campus near the proposed media village. The Secret Service would take the lead role in Games security.
LA2024 announced Friday that the Main Press Center once planned for NBC Universal’s studio lot would instead be at USC’s downtown Los Angeles campus and the lot in Universal City would host the International Broadcast Center as originally proposed.
LA2024 submitted its second bid file covering governance, legal and venue funding to the International Olympic Committee on Friday. The IOC said it received dossiers from Paris, Budapest and Rome, even though the latter’s bid has been rejected by its city council.
The IOC said it was still in contact with the Italian Olympic committee and Rome bid leaders. The IOC will select the 2024 host city in September 2017.
“We are eliminating unknowns and ensuring we can deliver what we promise,” bid chairman Casey Wasserman said. “LA 2024 is more optimistic than ever that we can create for the Olympic movement a high-tech, low-risk and sustainable new games for the new era of Olympic Agenda 2020.”
The MPC and media housing would be part of the proposed downtown sports park that would include venues for 14 sports, with the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, a temporary aquatics venue and Staples Center as the highlights.
The athletes’ village would be across town on the UCLA campus.
LA2024 is proposing four sports parks, with the others in the South Bay near Torrance, Long Beach and the San Fernando Valley, as opposed to having a single Olympic Park as recent games have had. Last month, LA2024 added three existing venues - the Long Beach convention center, Honda Center in Anaheim and Riviera Country Club in Los Angeles - to its plans while emphasizing the use of existing venues to avoid costly construction and cost overruns that have plagued Olympic host cities in recent years.
The media village would be anchored by USC’s new University Village housing development, set to be completed in fall 2017.
“LA 2024’s media offering is another example of the benefits of having critical Games-ready infrastructure in the ground and not on the drawing boards,” LA2024 CEO Gene Sykes said.
LA2024’s second bid document details how the committee has secured a commitment from the Department of Homeland Security that the 2024 Games would be designated a national special security event, with the Secret Service having lead responsibility for security.
The bid committee has secured agreements with the U.S. Olympic Committee, the city of Los Angeles and venue operators, which it says will allow LA2024 to focus its attention and resources on creating a personalized experience for the athletes.
The bid committee recently secured legislation that the state of California would provide $250 million in the event of any cost overrun beyond LA2024’s contingency and private insurance funding.
The bid cities’ final submission to the IOC is due on Feb. 3 and will include a projected budget for the games.
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