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≡ CITY COUNCIL OVERSIGHT ≡
“So, ‘enhanced City resources,’ when I talk about that, I’m talking about City services, City resources that exceed our normal and customary operations, and which are required for, and in direct support of the Games.”
That’s City of Los Angeles City Administrative Officer Matthew Szabo, speaking to the Los Angeles City Council’s Ad Hoc Committee on the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games on Monday morning, explaining that negotiations are continuing on an agreement with the LA28 organizing committee on an “Enhanced City Resources Master Agreement” or “ECRMA.” Further:
● “We’re establishing the rules for how we determine the costs and receive payment for Games-related expenses and once we establish the rules, we will then develop venue service agreements. For each venue, the venue service agreement will be governed in the rules by the ECRMA which we will establish and it will identify the City resources required at Games venues or sites.”
● “We need to complete the ECRMA as quickly as reasonably possible. LA28 will then proceed with its operational plans, we will work with LA28 on the venue services agreements to establish the required City services that will meet LA28 and City standards, and then we will proceed with providing cost estimates for reimbursements, consistent with those required services.”
What kinds of services are involved? Szabo used the World Series parade for the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2024 as an example:
“There are many differences between the Olympic Games and the Dodgers parade, as an example of the types of City services that are provided to support events at a large scale: police, fire, transportation, street services, sanitation; in this case, we had parks, we used some Rec & Parks vehicles and street lighting. So, as a reference point for one day in 2024 … it was about $2 million in City costs, which were fully reimbursed by the Dodgers.”
This agreement with LA28 was due, under the City’s Games Agreement signed in 2021, by 1 October 2025, but has dragged on as Szabo noted the complexity and the desire to get a good agreement, not a fast one.
He noted that there are two categories of expenses related to the 2028 Games, which need to be treated separately:
● City costs which are eligible for Federal funding, primarily in the security area. He pointed out that the 2028 Games have been declared as a “National Special Security Event,” which places security under the direction of the U.S. Secret Service. In H.R. 1, the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” $1 billion was allocated for use for security preparations and costs for the 2028 Games.
● City costs which will not be eligible for Federal reimbursement, and which LA28 will be expected to pay for directly.
The ECRMA will set the rules for what LA28 will pay for and how it will pay, subject to further details and cost estimates to be enumerated in “venue service agreements” for each site or group of sites which LA28 will use.
The ECRMA is due for completion and review and eventual approval by the City Council in early 2026, to be followed by initial cost estimates for each venue or venue group in October 2026 and then final cost estimates in October 2027.
Szabo also stated that LA28 will pay the City according to the cost estimates on the first day of the month prior to when services are delivered, meaning 1 July and 1 August 2028. Actual costs will be reconciled after the Games and LA28 responsible to pay any additional costs (or possibly to reimburse LA28 for any overages, as happened after the 1984 Olympic Games).
The ECRMA is critical to LA28 as well as the City, as Szabo that it will be the template for service agreements with other governments for similar services. Moreover, the ECRMA is to ensure that no other jurisdiction gets a “better deal” than Los Angeles will have.
There were multiple questions about whether areas adjacent to Games venues would be covered, for protests or other issues, or for training sites. Szabo said these are all under discussion.
The committee then went into closed session to discuss questions related to possible litigation, the nature of which was not stated. No report was made after the meeting was re-started and quickly adjourned.
¶
The ongoing tug-of-war between Los Angeles, California and the Trump Administration’s ongoing efforts against immigrants not legally in the U.S. has spilled over into the Olympic realm.
Protesters assembled last Wednesday (3rd) at the downtown Olive Street skyscraper which includes the LA28 headquarters, demanding that the organizing committee denounce the efforts of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency. They were moved outside, and announced their demands in a letter to the organizing committee.
This parallels the same demands made to the Dodgers in June, with protesters asking the club to make statements against ICE enforcement activities, which the club declined to do.
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