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≡ ROLE OF THE BANKER ≡
A scheduled two-hour inaugural hearing of the California State Assembly Select Committee on the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games held Friday (6th) at the LA84 Foundation campus in Los Angeles ran long, thanks to many questions from 10 Assembly members and State Senators present.
Chaired by Assembly member Tina McKinnor (D-61st District), the focus was on the “Lessons and Legacy Impacts of the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games,” and a summary of the history of the bid, planning and staging of that Games, which changed the Olympic Movement was offered, along with a detailed explanation of the legacy of the Games.
In specific, the LA84 Foundation, created with $93 million of the financial surplus left by the Los Angeles Olympic Organizing Committee, continues work throughout the Southern California area, with more than $230 million distributed to more than $2,500 grantees over more than 40 years, with assets at the end of 2024 at $186.01 million.
LA84 Foundation President Renata Simril explained:
“Legacy for us is ultimately measured by how we positively impact the lives of young people. … So, yes, 1984 was a moment, but LA84 was what happened when a city decided that movement should be a mission. We were proof that you can celebrate a global moment and also build something that lasts after the world goes home.
“And that brings me to a simple idea: the Olympic Games weren’t just a successful event. It was a civic decision, a decision that proved Los Angeles could do something big and then to make sure that something good lasted after the Games went home. … The LA84 Foundation is just one expression of the many legacies that were left in the City of Los Angeles.”
Former Los Angeles City Council member Zev Yaroslavsky, later a longtime Los Angeles County Supervisor, spoke about the development of the Los Angles bid for the Games and the difficult in-city politics that ended with a City Charter amendment winning overwhelming voter approval to prohibit any City financing of the Games.
Yaroslavsky also spoke passionately about the impact the Games had on him, as he began running regularly after seeing American Joan Benoit’s spectacular victory in the first Olympic women’s marathon, and how the Olympic Arts Festival led to the founding of the Los Angeles Opera.
Known throughout his career as a budget hawk, Yaroslavsky also turned his attention to the Committee’s primary focus, the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games and the government guarantees against any deficits of the LA28 organizers. The City of Los Angeles is responsible for the first $270 million, then the State of California for the next $270 million and then back to the City for any more. Yaroslavsky’s warning was about vigilance:
“You’re the banker. The City of Los Angeles is the main banker, and – I’m not in the City [government]; I’m certainly not in the State – I don’t know what the City knows about the revenues are.
“We can sit here and say, ‘well, they [LA28] got a billion-two from Delta Airlines and this and that and that,’ but nobody knows for sure and … I don’t believe that anybody in the City knows exactly what the books are.
“Now, we didn’t know what the books were in 1984, but we didn’t need to know because we were protected, and that [LAOOC President Peter] Ueberroth would have to make it work, because he knew he couldn’t go to the City and say, ‘I’m broke.’ We can’t do anything for you, Peter, because we are precluded by the City Charter from doing that. And so he used that leverage with all of his sponsors …
“You guys, the State of California, whoever is responsible for this, whether it’s the Legislature of the Governor’s Office, or both, and the Mayor and the City Council need to know – and you should not jeopardize the confidentiality of bids and stuff like that – but somebody in the City has got to know where they stand.
“Otherwise, come July of 2028, there’s going to be a big bill put on the City’s desk, and probably on yours.”
The Assembly committee will have its second hearing in Sacramento on 6 April, combined with the Arts, Entertainment, Sports and Tourism committee, with the LA28 organizers expected to be in attendance.
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