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≡ RODRIGUEZ WANTS SPENDING ≡
“You’re giving me a lot of the word salad about all the great things we’re doing to check the box. I want, tangibly, show me, the list – and I’d like this next report – I want to see the tangible evidence of that work, in terms of the intentional engagements that have been initiated with small business, because I don’t want it to be a dynamic, and we saw this with the [February 2022] Super Bowl.
“I don’t want this to be a situation where you’re like, ‘well, we sent it all out, but no businesses responded. No one came. We tried.’ OK?
“So I’m just setting the table for the conversation that I want you guys to really take seriously, because we talk about it, and I don’t want it to be like ‘oh, we’re three weeks out, we don’t have this vendor, and someone’s friend is the one getting the contract.’ OK?
“So, if we’re really going to do this – particularly as we’re talking about an Olympic Games with venues; they’re a regional Games, not just purely in the City of Los Angeles – we need to make sure that local businesses who right now are struggling, particularly given all the potential for tariffs and whatnot, there’s an opportunity here for us to really work with intentionality to engage these entrepreneurs to figure out how can we innovate, and engage these business owners to be part – because we want to pay everybody lots of money and more wages and that’s all great – but there’s a lot of businesses that need to survive so that we can sustain the tax base, or they need to grow so they can help build it with us.
“So that’s what I want to next report to include, when we talk about it. I appreciate everyone’s commitment, everybody has a commitment, we’re writing commitments everywhere, it’s great. Show me. Show me in the action. Show me in the outcomes. Show me with the intentionality and that’s what I’d like to see, the next time we come together.”
That’s Los Angeles City Council member Monica Rodriguez, speaking at Wednesday’s Ad Hoc Committee on the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games, with LA28 organizing committee Chief Operating Officer John Harper.
Rodriguez launched into her commentary after mentioning the Paris 2024 programming:
“It was impressive what Paris [2024] had done to incubate new businesses that have now become multi-million-dollar enterprises in Paris, but a lot of that was a sustained lead-up effort that was conducted with the City of Paris and Paris 2024, because there was intentionality behind small business incubation, small business procurement, workforce development.
“Like, there was a sustained effort. Right now, in the [City Council] Budget committee, there is a proposal to consolidate a lot of the workforce and economic development muscles that we have in this city, unfortunately, that would also compromise a lot of these efforts.
“That being said, I am really interested in knowing, because I have not seen – I’ve seen a lot of really flashy press moments – where we talk about our commitment to small businesses and everything in the city.
“I want to make sure: what is intentionally happening with trying to engage these small businesses now in the manner that Paris did? They were very intentional about helping to actively prepare these small businesses and create, basically, a new business model. I believe they were making the stadium seating, if I recall correctly out of recycled bottles, right, and it came from a small business incubation and a small entrepreneur to now becoming this multi-million-dollar entity.
“So, there hasn’t really seem to be this very authentic kind of intentionality behind this work. My question is, what are you all doing, aside from some of the flashy events, to intentionally start engaging these small businesses, particularly at a time when the City of Los Angeles, in the budget, has actually proposed [cutting] a lot of the very individuals that are important to this process, on our side.
“So I want to know what LA28’s commitment is to helping to fulfill that, because if we cut off those appendages from the City of Los Angeles in some of the budget actions that are before us, then that is going to fall off the face of this effort.
“And that is a real important legacy for a lot of businesses, that we talk about, and it means a lot to our tax base at a time when the City is already very strained for resources, as you know.”
Harper explained that the procurement strategy is in development, and promised more details at the next committee meeting.
Committee head – and City Council President – Marqueece Harris-Dawson then went further:
“We have to have a standard; to measure the outcome is too late, because the Olympic Games will be over if you measure just the outcome. We need a goal, a commitment: this much of the business is going to be done with small businesses in this region, period.
“And some levers to make sure that that actually happens, or creates some consequences if it doesn’t happen.”
Observed: Rodriguez and Harris-Dawson are going to be disappointed if they are looking for anything soon on major spending from LA28. The latest LA28 Annual Report to the City, filed on 31 March 2025, showed that 59% of all of LA28’s lifetime expenses will be incurred in 2028 itself, down from 67% projected in the 2024 Annual Report.
This is because no new venues are being built for 2028 and the temporary installations for the Games won’t happen until that year.
¶
Council member Imelda Padilla asked about LA28’s outreach efforts:
“When will we start to see TV, social-media ads related to the Olympic coming? A lot of people are not aware of how close it is.”
Harper explained:
“That’s part of our marketing calendar; we have a new [Chief Marketing Officer] coming on board, and we’ve had a very focused approach to how we’ve been approaching the Games that are upcoming, not only for the Games in L.A., but what we’re doing with Team USA, leading up to Paris [2024] or the Milano Cortina [2026].
“So as we get closer and closer, that will start to ramp up more and more, not only with our own marketing assets, but with our partner’s assets as well.”
Harris-Dawson asked about when the already-announced sites – such as the Crypto.com Arena at L.A. Live – would have signage announcing themselves as a site of the 2028 Olympic Games (and Paralympic Games, if appropriate):
Replied Harper, “It’s something we’re working on now, now that we’re finalizing not only the venue plan, but the further agreements that we’re going to have with them.”
The new LA28 Chief Marketing Officer appears to be Alex Merchan, whose LinkedIn profile states that he joined in March, coming from venue management giant ASM Global, where he had been the Chief Marketing Officer for four years, and previously at Live Nation Entertainment, where he led marketing as Executive Vice President. He replaced Amy Gleeson, who had been the LA28 head of marketing since April 2019, and was moved to a Senior Strategic Advisor role in February.
¶
LA28 is reaching out to National Olympic Committees with its first of a series of “NOC Open Week” meetings. About 30 NOCs were in Los Angeles on Tuesday and Wednesday, with another group slated to visit in August.
The Ad Hoc Committee approved a flood of motions for City staff to review LA28’s performance in specific areas and report back and will head to the City Council for formal approval.
A brief mention of venue approvals was made and no discussion was had about the request of Council member Tim McOsker to have sailing moved from Long Beach to San Pedro. The issue may be dead, but only if McOsker decides to stop fighting for it.
McOsker filed another motion to ask about the progress of committees on sustainability, and further to Rodriguez’s questions, about local hiring and local procurement, which are to be discussed at the next committee meeting.
¶
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