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LA2024 Olympics Organizers Add Shoreline Long Beach Events -- 5 Downtown, 1 in Belmont Shore -- To LA's Pitch For Games


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(Sept. 22, 2016, 11:26 a.m.) -- In a release this morning (Sept. 22), LA2024 (the entity proposing to organize and present Olympic Games in L.A. in 2024) says that if it gets the Games, shoreline Long Beach will be the location of six Olympics events: five in downtown LB, one in Belmont Shore.

  • Handball at downtown LB Arena for competition, Convention Ctr. for warm-up/production space

  • BMX and Water Polo in temporary facility along the downtown LB waterfront

  • Marathon Swimming and Triathlon along downtown LB waterfront (using existing IndyCar Series Grand Prix race course [LA2024 release text] "to minimize disruption to the community"

  • Sailing along the LB Belmont Pier.

Also added to venues is the Honda Center in Anaheim as the site for volleyball. (Noticed: today's release doesn't mention Santa Monica, previously mentioned as the site for beach volleyball.)

[Scroll down for further.]



Image accompanying LA2024 release text, below.]

[LA2024 release text]

Los Angeles 2024 has added the Honda Center in Anaheim; Long Beach's Arena, Convention Center, Waterfront and Pier; and the Riviera Country Club in Los Angeles as part of its new Games Plan. These existing world-class sports venues were added following months of consultations with the international sports federations and local communities as part of LA's fiscally responsible and innovative bid to bring the Olympic and Paralympic Games back to the United States for the first time in 28 years.

The hallmark of LA 2024's high tech, low risk and sustainable new Games for a new era is the use of existing world-class venues. Using the region's sports infrastructure, LA 2024 does not have to worry about construction deadlines and cost overruns; instead, LA 2024 can focus on creating the ultimate experience for athletes and all attendees through cutting-edge field-of-play technology combined with the latest in sports entertainment and storytelling; training facilities co-located with Olympic and Paralympic Village accommodation or competition venues; and stadiums filled with celebrating fans from every nation.

With this enhanced Games Plan, LA 2024 is putting sports where they fit best in Southern California, engaging more communities across the region and immersing attendees in the rich culture, iconic sites and breathtaking natural beauty of LA as we invite the world to Follow the Sun.

The LA 2024 enhanced Games Concept offers two specific innovations. The first is an Olympic and Paralympic Village that offers extensive and fully integrated training facilities. UCLA's previously designated competition venues, the tennis center and north athletic field, will now join Drake track and field stadium as part of the Village training center. With unprecedented convenience and quality for athletes, LA 2024's Village and Training plan ensures all sports will either have training facilities at the Village or their competition venue, eliminating the need for additional travel.

The second innovation takes the concept of the Olympic Park to the next level by offering four unique Sports Parks, in Downtown Los Angeles, the South Bay, the Valley, and now Long Beach. By evolving the traditional concept of a singular, highly concentrated Olympic Park into a new city-wide model, the LA 2024 plan uses more world-class existing sports venues and brings the Games experience to more areas of Southern California than ever before. Beyond just locating sports close together, each Sports Park offers a multi-sport and entertainment experience within a secure perimeter where all attendees will be able to walk from one venue to another in a vibrant and lively atmosphere that will include food, music, celebration Live Sites, and the opportunity to see several events. The Parks all connect to LA's growing public transit system, and are set among LA's stunning backdrops, including its scenic coastline, unique topography and iconic landmarks such as the Hollywood Hills and City Hall.

LA 2024's Sports Parks combine operational spaces and services for many sports, achieving significant savings that further LA 2024's commitment to fiscal responsibility. With the new venues in Long Beach and Anaheim, the new Games Plan brings Olympic and Paralympic action closer to large population centers in Orange County, Riverside and San Bernardino Counties, and exposes visitors to more of the region's unique and diverse neighborhoods.

The Long Beach Sports Park will offer Handball in its Arena, a 13,500 seat facility that recently received $10 million in upgrades, along with warm-up facilities and other production space at its connected 224,000 square foot Convention Center; BMX and Water Polo in temporary facilities along the scenic Long Beach Waterfront; Marathon Swimming and Triathlon along the Long Beach Waterfront, with the latter event using the existing IndyCar Series Grand Prix race course to minimize disruption to the community; and Sailing along the Long Beach Belmont Pier. The Long Beach Sports Park is 40 minutes from UCLA's Olympic and Paralympic Villages, and is next to two LA Metro Blue Line rail stations that connect to Downtown Los Angeles and LA's transit network.

The Honda Center in Anaheim will host Volleyball, bringing the sport to a professional sports arena that seats more than 18,000 fans and is the home of the NHL Ducks franchise. In Orange County, the sport will be played 10 minutes from Disneyland and in a Volleyball hotbed, drawing the highest possible interest from spectators and creating the greatest legacy for the community. The arena is quickly accessible to Southern California's residents and visitors, conveniently located next to the Anaheim rail station with regional trains connecting Downtown Los Angeles in 40 minutes. Driving time from UCLA's Olympic and Paralympic Villages takes 55 minutes.

The legendary Riviera Country Club in Los Angeles will host men's and women's Golf, putting the sport at a George Thomas-designed course that has been the site of some of the most prestigious tournaments, including the US Open, two PGA Championships, and the PGA Tour's annual tournament in Los Angeles. The Riviera has been home to PGA Tour pros and the biggest names in golf since 1929, and the course will play host to the Genesis Open and the Tiger Woods Foundation in February 2017 and the US Amateur in August 2017.

Wrestling and Judo will replace Volleyball at UCLA's Pauley Pavilion, providing those sports with a 13,800 seat state-of-the art indoor arena that recently underwent $136 million in renovations. The Paralympic sport of Sitting Volleyball will remain at Pauley Pavilion. Paralympic program changes are: Wheelchair Basketball at Staples Center, Wheelchair Rugby at the LA Convention Center, Para Triathlon at the Long Beach Waterfront and Football 5-a-side at South Bay Sports Park.

LA 2024 Chairman Casey Wasserman said: "We're very pleased to add more world-class existing venues to our fiscally responsible and innovative Games Plan for 2024. By relying on Southern California's wealth of top sports, housing and transportation infrastructure, LA 2024 will minimize construction risk, operational struggles and costs, and can focus on providing athletes with the perfect stage to perform their best, without distraction."

"The IOC's Olympic Agenda 2020 reforms encourage cities to be sustainable, efficient and go where our existing venues are, and that is what we have done with this enhanced Games Plan. Every time we have identified an opportunity to enhance our plan in line with the principles of Olympic Agenda 2020, we have taken it. And just like the stunning Rio 2016 Games, LA 2024 will stage events that feature our scenic coastline, diverse topography and iconic landmarks, creating a vibrant backdrop for a citywide celebration that engages the community and inspires the world."

Long Beach Mayor Robert Garcia said: "Long Beach has a long history of hosting Olympic competitions and producing local Olympians and Paralympians. We are proud to join the LA 2024 team and will do everything we can to support Los Angeles and the United States bid. We are committed to ensuring that the Games provide an economic benefit to our hotels, tourism and community."

Honda Center President and CEO Tim Ryan said: "We're thrilled to be selected as part of LA 2024's bid to bring the Olympic and Paralympic Games back to Southern California. Over the years we've invested significant capital and worked in partnership with the city of Anaheim to assure our facility remains state of the art, and it's certainly exciting to see those efforts recognized. We believe LA 2024 is the right choice as host city and are excited to now officially be in partnership with them to bring world-class Olympic athletics back to our area."

The Riviera Country Club Corporate Officer Michael R. Yamaki said: "We are honored and thrilled to be selected by LA 2024 for the opportunity to host the world's greatest golfers. The Riviera has been fortunate to host the US Open, the PGA Championship, the US Senior Open, and in 2017 we will be home to the US Amateur, the USGA's oldest championship. If we are privileged to bring the Olympic and Paralympic Games to Los Angeles in 2024, it will be quite exciting to see many of these same amateurs return to Riviera to compete for gold as professionals."

LA 2024's venue changes will be included as part of its Candidature File Part 2 to be submitted to the IOC on October 7, 2016. LA 2024's Candidature File Part 3 will be submitted on February 3, 2017, with IOC members set to elect a 2024 Host City at the 130th IOC Session on September 13, 2017 in Lima, Peru.

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As previously reported by LBREPORT.com, on Sept. 20 the City Council voted (8-0, Mungo absent) to enter into agreements with LA2024, without publicly disclosing the agreements' specific terms

Concerning Fiscal Impact, city management stated in its agendizing memo:

FISCAL IMPACT

If Los Angeles is awarded the Olympic Games bid for 2024, the City of Long Beach may incur unknown staffing and venue costs associated with its participation. City staff will work with LA 2024 to pursue full cost recovery. If the City is expected to incur non reimbursable costs, staff will return to the City Council at a later date for direction. It is envisioned that the City would establish a reserve fund, to which funds would be added over the next eight years to cover any costs not covered by LA 2024. If Los Angeles is selected to host the Olympic Games, it is anticipated that new jobs will be created, which are directly related to the venues chosen within the City of Long Beach.

In addition, Assistant City Manager Tom Modica stated verbally during the Sept. 20 Council meeting:

We expect, as noted in your staff report, that the cost of the venues would be offset by the Olympic committee; they would essentially pay for the cost associated with those and then if there was any cost that aren't going to be recovered, we would come back to the City Council at a later date...[I]f we are selected next September 2017, we would essentially be talking more in specificity and costs and what that would look like in our city...

No Councilmembers asked any questions or made any statements regarding potential costs, but several Councilmembers said they wanted information on the "economic impacts" of the Games before voting without dissent to enter into the publicly undisclosed initial agreements.

The Council's Sept. 20 action came one week to the day after Councilmembers approved a management-proposed, Mayor-recommended FY17 budget that (despite a sales tax increase to 10% effective Jan. 1, 2017) doesn't restore 95% of police officers or three fire engines that the City of LB previously provided to its residents and visitors.

The City of Long Beach currently budgets a sworn police level for citywide deployment roughly equivalent per capita to what Los Angeles would have if L.A. cut roughly 30% of LAPD's officers.

On Sept. 21, Rome's Mayor indicated she doesn't favor going forward with that City's bid to host the games. Boston was the US Olympic Committee's preferred venue until Boston withdrew, citing cost considerations. That cleared the way for L.A. to pursue the Games. Three cities remain in serious contention now: Paris, Budapest and Los Angeles; the IOC is scheduled to announce its choice on September 13, 2017.

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Long Beach was part of the Los Angeles Olympics in 1932 and 1984. LB's 1984 Olympic event venues were Archery @ El Dorado Park; Volleyball @ the LB Arena; Fencing @ LB Convention Center and Sailing @ the Shoreline Marina (built downtown to host the competition.) In 1932, LB hosted rowing at Marine Stadium (created/dredged in 1925 with further dredging for the 1932 games; the only facility built specifically for L.A.'s 1932 Olympics was the Swimming Stadium.)

TV ratings for the recently completed Rio Olympics were down significantly from the 2012 London Games.

Some critics of the Olympics have opined that event now focuses too heavily on corporate sponsorships and advertising contracts instead of amateur athletics.

Other critics of the games point out that its organizers chose Berlin in Nazi Germany for the 1936 games with plans for the 1940 Olympics in Tokyo (which didn't occur because the Axis regimes had ignited WWII.) More recently, the IOC awarded the games to totalitarian regimes including the now-former Soviet Union in 1980 and the Peoples Republic of China in 2008.

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