LA agrees to host 2028 Olympic games

Editor's Note: This post was originally published on July 31, 2017 and has been updated with the most recent information.

Los Angeles’s pursuit of the 2024 Olympics has ended, but the city is all but assured to host the games four years later. Los Angeles bid leaders announced Monday that they have reached an agreement with the International Olympic Committee paving the way for Paris to host in 2024, while LA will get the games in 2028.

"We will host the games here in the City of Angels again," Mayor Eric Garcetti proclaimed at a press conference held (somewhat ironically) at the Stubhub Center in Carson.

The agreement follows a rare decision by the IOC earlier this month to award the 2024 and 2028 games simultaneously, allowing both Paris and Los Angeles (the last remaining bidders for the 2024 games) to host.

That decision, however, depended on one city agreeing to wait an additional four years for the chance to host the games. Now, Los Angeles bid leaders have accepted a host city contract for the 2028 games.

As part of that contract, the IOC will advance funds to an organizing committee in order to compensate for the “longer planning period” and to “increase participation and access to youth sports programs” around Los Angeles, according to a statement from LA’s bid committee.

The total IOC contribution to the city under the new contract will be around $1.8 billion, but bid leaders are confident the number will exceed $2 billion once existing sponsorship deals are renewed.

Previously, Garcetti and LA’s bid leader, Casey Wasserman, had hinted that the city would be willing to accept the 2028 games, while leaders of Paris’s bid appeared more reluctant to do so.

At the press conference, Garcetti maintained that the new agreement was beneficial enough for LA that he would take the games in 2028 even if Paris were cut out of the equation.

Sometimes, he said, "the best indicator of success is delayed gratification."

Los Angeles has hosted the Olympics twice before—in 1932 and 1984. Paris has not hosted the games since 1924.

In September, the IOC will meet in Lima to finalize this agreement and officially award the 2024 and 2028 games.

In the meantime, LA City Council President Herb Wesson says that the council's committee on the Olympics will meet Friday to discuss the new agreement, with the full council considering the matter as soon as the following week.

• Olympics heading to LA after IOC votes to award 2024 and 2028 games simultaneously [Curbed LA]
• LA Olympics: Either LA or Paris has to agree to 2028—or risk losing the chance to host [Curbed LA]
• IOC board recommends plan that would bring the Olympics to Los Angeles [Curbed LA]