Los Angeles 2024 has not decided on its venue for the Opening and Closing Ceremonies, bid chairman Casey Wasserman said in an NBC Los Angeles interview that aired Sunday.
In August 2015 and February 2016, LA 2024 Olympic bid documents listed the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum as the proposed venue for ceremonies (in addition to track and field). The Coliseum also held those events at the 1932 and 1984 Olympics.
Los Angeles is bidding against Paris and Budapest for the 2024 Olympics. IOC members will vote to choose the 2024 Olympic host city in September in Lima, Peru. The final bid file submission to the IOC is due Feb. 3, at which point LA 2024 will have to submit its planned ceremonies venue.
Recent reports have said that the Los Angeles Rams’ football stadium in nearby Inglewood, projected to open in 2019, could be a ceremonies venue. That could carry its own set of complications.
“Specific to ceremonies or other things, we haven’t reached a final decision,” Wasserman said in Sunday’s interview. “Obviously, that’s something we have to have an engaged dialogue with, which we’re in the middle of, with both the city and the IOC. There’s lots of give and takes on both fronts. Obviously, by February we’ll make a decision on that.”
Wasserman also said his biggest worry “is that what we’re selling isn’t what [the IOC members] want to buy.”
“We are who we are,” Wasserman said. “We are a young, dynamic city that’s all about the intersection of creativity and innovation. It’s forward-thinking, and we are competing against two very different kind of cities from Europe.”
VIDEO: LA 2024 Olympic bid venue tour
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