The Olympic Games are already set in Tokyo for 2020 and we are already familiar with some of the plans surrounding the 2028 Games in LA, mainly, the price. As one might expect, we are talking about several billions of dollars, but the weird thing is that the estimated cost has increased recently. There are also sentiments that money is not the only thing to worry about.
Inflation
LA was one of the cities that bid on hosting the 2024 Olympics and, during that time, they expected the cost of staging the event to come up to $5.3 billion. When this figure is adjusted for inflation, it appears that the new price of the enterprise is going to be $6.2 billion in 2024 or $6.9 billion in 2028.
It was the council of the city that gave the organizers a go-ahead with coming up with a number that is going to reflect changes due to inflation and they had until early this year to deliver the results.
Backup
In case things go south, as these things tend to happen to organizers and hosts of the Olympics, there is about $615.9 million prepared as a contingency. The organizers are convinced that they are going to break even, or even possibly create a profit, but the city remains firm in its decision to have some money to cover the cost of losses.
Furthermore, LA could be the first city in decades that doesn’t go over its planned budget for the Olympics. What’s interesting is that LA hosted the 1984 Olympics as well and didn’t go over budget then, either.
What Preparations Will Be Made?
LA is currently planning on reinforcing the infrastructure to accommodate a large number of attendees. This means that they are going to do a lot of work on roads and rails. There is talk of coming up with plans and deals with private companies that could alleviate some of the budget problems if all goes well.
There could even be a positive byproduct of improving and regulating the roads – less congestion. While this is certainly necessary for the newcomers in 2028, this is a problem people in LA have been facing for a long time. While transportation methods are among the best in the world, they are not used efficiently enough.
There will be no need to come up with new stages and stadiums, as Los Angeles is already equipped to handle this task – hence the budget that is lower than that of some other countries over the years. The plan also predicts that there is going to be over $2 billion in sponsorship revenue, so it appears the city’s good to go.
Critics
There are several critics of the Olympics in LA, including the NOlympics, who fear the city is going to displace the population and give the already notorious police force more power, and the elites more money. LA has been known to struggle with homelessness and brutality, as well as ridiculous real estate, and the upcoming Olympic Games are just going to make matters worse.
One of the issues is that the budget fails to take into account greed. While there are plans concerning the accommodation and transport of the global audience, there are always local politicians and tycoons ready to construct expensive buildings at prime locations, making use of the influx to turn a profit rapidly. This will also ruin the chances of the local population, especially the homeless, which are now in tens of thousands, to find affordable housing.
