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LA Mayor Eric Garcetti presents rosy profitability outlook for 2028 Olympic Games

by in News

LOS ANGELES — Los Angeles mayor Eric Garcetti presented a profitability outlook of $1 billion for the 2028 Olympic Games on Monday, during a speech at the inaugural Los Angeles Sports Summit.

Garcetti, speaking with reporters afterward, said that “there is no question we’ll be in the high hundreds of millions” in profit from the Olympics.

The mayor made the opening remarks at the summit the same day a study released by the Los Angeles Sports Council found that $6.2 billion was generated by the sports industry in the region in 2018, leading to about 34,100 full-time jobs and an estimated tax revenue of more than $327 million for local and state governments.

Garcetti pointed to Los Angeles hosting the Olympics in 2028 as an example of sports presenting the city with an economic boon. He said that nine-and-a-half years out from the Olympics, Los Angeles is on track to meet its guarantees, and if it meets the record sponsorship commitments that Tokyo is receiving for the 2020 Games, it should have no problem reaching the profitability outlook. That is before factoring ticket sales, which, according to Garcetti, have been conservative.

Los Angeles has twice turned a profit hosting the Olympics, but a $1 billion profit would be a record for a host city.

“We made $1 million in ’32, $250 million in ’84,” Garcetti said. “I think we will make at least a $1 billion net in 2028 because we have the ability to look at that profitability, we have the ability to think about legacy right away and a longer period of time to plan.”

Garcetti also dismissed critics who claim he is focusing on the Olympics instead of the crisis surrounding L.A.’s homeless population, which grew by 16 percent in 2019. Sports, he said, can help improve both mental and physical health, which can turn lives around. He pointed to a program called SWIM LA, a program launched by the city to provide affordable swim lessons to kids.

“It’s not either or,” Garcetti said. “When a kid learns how to swim, she can feel better about herself, maybe she can graduate from high school. Sports has the opportunity to transform.”

The profit that he expects the Olympics to bring to L.A. will contribute to that. Garcetti said he can “guarantee pretty universal access to sports for kids.”

“It is my goal to make sure that no family looks at the opportunities for their children and say, ‘We can’t afford for them to play sports,’” Garcetti said.

In his speech, the mayor also touched on the mentality of Los Angeles’ sports fanbases. He said the city is quick to embrace teams who put their roots down in L.A., starting with the Dodgers in 1958 and continuing with LAFC’s immediate success as an expansion franchise. Garcetti added that what Los Angeles offers beyond sports is enticing and partially why LeBron James signed with the Lakers last summer.

Around 300 attendees registered for the two-day summit at the Omni Los Angeles hotel, which features athletes, executives and business leaders around the local world of sports.

“Everyone knows the emotional aspects of sports,” said David Siegel, President and CEO of the Los Angeles Sports Council and the Southern California Committee for the Olympic Games. “What’s lost is the ripple effect it has on the economic impact in the region and also the community.”

Siegel said that registration for the event exceeded expectations.

“It just goes to how deep-rooted the sports industry is in L.A. and how many businesses overlap with sports,” Siegel said.