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≡ FEAR OF THE UNKNOWN ≡
Last week’s meeting of the Los Angeles City Council’s Ad Hoc Committee on the Olympic and Paralympic Games ended when the committee went into closed session to discuss possible litigation, and when the Council members returned, they had nothing to report.
According to the Los Angeles Times, Council member Bob Blumenfield said afterwards, “There was no recommendation to move forward on litigation.”
Our TSX report of the meeting noted City Administrative Officer Matthew Szabo told the committee that despite a 1 October 2025 deadline for a City agreement on costs with the LA28 organizers per the schedule laid out in the City’s Games Agreement – signed back in 2021 – it was not ready yet.
The “Enhanced City Resources Master Agreement” or “ECRMA” in City Council-speak is taking shape with the City and LA28 working towards a common understanding of what LA28 will pay for. In theory, this is everything above and beyond “normal and customary” services provided by the City that are “required for and in direct support of the Games.” Szabo explained:
“All of these services will be captured and the City – my office – will provide cost estimates for all of it, once it is established. We expect, in sequence, we would negotiate the finalized venue service agreements first and the NSSE [National Special Security Event] plans would come sometime thereafter.
“The initial cost estimates, those will be provided by October 2026, just under a year from today, once the venue service agreements are negotiated . We will then provide final estimates by the end of October in 2027.”
Szabo noted that there has been substantial progress with LA28 on the Enhanced City Resources Master Agreement in the areas not involved in security planning, specifically those under the designation of the NSSE, which is being administered by the U.S. Secret Service.
Having been in event management for more than 40 years, it’s no surprise that an ultra-aggressive date in 2025 – almost three years ahead of the 2028 Games – was not met for this agreement. Whether for an Olympic Games, Olympic Winter Games, Goodwill Games, Pan American Games, World University Games or civic spectaculars like the Statue of Liberty Centennial or National Columbus Quincentennial Celebration, all of which I have worked on, the idea that a financial agreement for city services could be reached three years out was impossible to consider.
Let’s just dial back to the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, where a City Charter amendment was passed – overwhelmingly – in 1978 stating that the City of Los Angeles would not provide anything to support the Games that it was not reimbursed for.
During the organizing phase, the question of the agreement on costs for the City of Los Angeles was the closest thing to any real pre-Games hysteria, with worries that the City would make a bad deal, or a good deal, or no deal and somehow the Games or the City would collapse (or both).
In the end, there was an agreement between the City and the Los Angeles Olympic Organizing Committee, abused by one City department, but it came later than the current negotiations with LA28, as did agreements with other cities in which the 1984 Games took place:
● 1982-28 October: The City of Los Angeles and the LAOOC agreed on the framework for reimbursement, estimated at $19.3 million, to be paid from a trust fund created to collect a half-cent increase in the city’s hotel tax and a 6% municipal tax on Olympic tickets. Beyond that, the LAOOC was responsible.
● 1984-09 July: The Los Angeles Police Department demanded, just before the Games began, an additional $9.4 million for its security staffing needs. The LAOOC paid as required, but much of this was returned to the organizing committee in the post-Games reconciliation in 1985.
Once the 1982 framework agreement on costs was in place, the rest of the cities involved also entered into local-services contracts:
● 1983-26 April: Ventura County for $148,655, related to security.
● 1983-01 June: Orange County for $252,881 (security).
● 1983-27 June: San Bernardino County for $35,000 (security).
● 1983-08 August: City of Monterey Park for $131,609 (security).
● 1983-15 November: City of Anaheim for $110,000 (security).
Applying these timelines to the 2028 Games, the City of Los Angeles framework agreement would be reached in late 2026 and the subsequent agreements with other cities in 2027.
The benefit of the later timing is that the actual layout of the venues will be further along, leading to better cost estimates, and the planning by the security agencies will also be further detailed. That has been pushed into the “venue service agreements” that Szabo mentioned.
It’s a good thing that the City and LA28 are talking, and in detail. But as the worry appears to be over the security areas which the U.S. Secret Service will direct under the designation of a National Special Security Event, it’s way too early to panic.
The Times reported that Council President Harris Marqueece-Dawson said at a luncheon last Thursday;
“With this administration, you don’t know what the hell is going to happen, right? So both of us [the city and LA28] are looking at a $1.5-billion bill, and we’re like, ‘Yeah, I’m not paying it. You’re gonna pay it.’“
But as Trump has repeatedly stated his support of the Games and $1 billion was allocated for security costs related to the 2028 Games in the new Federal budget (so the issue is down to $500 million now, right?), Harris-Dawson added, “but on this particular issue, so far so good.”
The time for worry may come, and it is sure that security planning for 2028 will be heavily influenced by what happens at the 2026 FIFA World Cup. For now, the words of English poet William Langland from around 1360 ring true: “Patience is a Virtue.”
Rich Perelman
Editor
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