LOS ANGELES – If the city of Los Angeles becomes the U.S. candidate for the 2024 Olympics after Boston's recent drop from contention, the organizers' proposed budget for the Summer Games would be $4.1 billion plus a $400 million contingency, a senior adviser to Mayor Eric Garcetti said Monday.
The sum includes $200 million to cover city expenses, Jeff Millman said.
The city's projection anticipates revenues far in excess of $4.5 billion and a significant profit, Millman said.
The budget would not come from city funding, but would instead come to the Los Angeles organizing committee from such sources as broadcast revenue, sponsorships and tickets.
Boston had proposed a budget under $5 billion -- considered frugal for the Olympics -- but still struggled to sell the public on the idea it wouldn't need major public funding to host the games.
When its candidacy flamed out late last month, Los Angeles' prospects to host a third Olympics were revived.
U.S. Olympic leaders have since contacted Los Angeles, San Francisco and Washington, D.C., about the possibility of bidding for the 2024 Games. The USOC now faces a Sept. 15 International Olympic Committee deadline to enter a bid.
Los Angeles, which hosted the 1932 and 1984 Olympics, is widely viewed as the likely choice because its many existing venues would help keep costs low.
The proposal the city put together before losing out to Boston incorporated many of the area's most famous sites: the Rose Bowl, Santa Monica beach, Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills, the Hollywood sign.
The centerpiece would be an expanded Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, the rare venue in the United States whose field was designed to be ringed by a running track.
That and the other key venues have already been built, minimizing the need for public funding for new facilities. Also, by 2024, there's a good chance an NFL team or teams will have built at least one stadium that could be up and running.
International Olympic Committee members at a recent meeting said they would still welcome a strong candidate from the U.S.
