Los Angeles has decided its Olympic aspirations can wait four years, which means Paris is poised to host the 2024 Summer Olympics.
The two cities had both been awarded hosting rights by the International Olympic Committee and have been negotiating for the past three weeks on which city would go first and which would wait until 2028. On Monday afternoon, a deal between the three parties was announced, with Los Angeles agreeing to stage the 2028 Summer Games.
While exact terms of the agreement were not immediately available, according to the Los Angeles officials, the IOC will advance at least $1.8 billion to the city with the goal of increasing participation and access to youth sports programs.
"This agreement with the IOC will allow us to seed a legacy of hope and opportunity that will lift up every community in Los Angeles – not in 11 years' time, but starting now and continuing in the years leading up to the Games," Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti said in statement. "LA 2028 will kick-start our drive to make LA the healthiest city in America, by making youth sports more affordable and accessible than ever before."
The committee has scheduled a news conference for 8 p.m. ET. The Los Angeles City Council and the U.S. Olympic Committee must still approve the agreement before it goes before the IOC.
The 2024 bidding process had been among the most calamitous with several cities pulling out of the race early, including Rome, Budapest, Boston and Hamburg, Germany. Eventually, only Los Angeles and Paris were left standing, and on July 11 the IOC voted unanimously to move forward with a dual award for the 2024 and '28 Summer Games, insuring that both cities would have hosting honors.
Even before negotiations began, it was widely presumed in Olympic circles that Los Angeles would end up with the 2028 Games. The Paris committee had remained steadfast in its desire to host in '24, while Los Angeles officials repeatedly highlighted their flexibility.
"Our objective is to best serve the IOC's needs, not only ours," Casey Wasserman, chair of the LA 2024 committee, said earlier this month. "That's why we've never given an ultimatum about 2024."
The agreement means that both Paris and Los Angeles are poised to host an Olympics for a third time. Los Angeles previously staged the Games in 1932 and '84; Paris hosted in 1900 and '24. While Salt Lake City hosted the 2002 Winter Games, no American city has hosted a Summer Olympics since Atlanta in 1996.
"Today was an important step in the process to bring the Olympic and Paralympic Games back to the United States," USOC Chairman Larry Probst said in a statement. "In the coming weeks, we look forward to presenting this to the USOC board for approval of Los Angeles' 2028 candidature in anticipation of a positive vote by the IOC membership in September. LA 2028 will help connect the Olympic Movement with the youth of the world and provide the IOC with long-term stability and sustainability, and demonstrate the viability of hosting the Games to future bidders."