California lawmakers draw on past to prepare for 2028 Olympics
With the next Summer Olympics less than 2 1/2 years away, state legislative leaders this week reflected on the 1984 Games — the last time Los Angeles hosted the global sporting event — as they seek out ideas and inspiration to make the 2028 Games just as, if not more, successful.
The Assembly Select Committee on the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games held its first informational hearing in L.A. on Friday, a meeting focused on lessons learned from the 1984 Olympics and the lasting impacts of those Games.
“The question is often raised: ‘How can Los Angeles top the widely successful 1984 Games?’ If you know anything about L.A., you know that we love a sequel,” Assemblymember Tina McKinnor, D-Inglewood, who chairs the committee, said to laughs as she gave a nod to L.A.’s filmmaking industry.
The 1984 Games produced iconic moments, like the gold-medal winning performances of track and field’s Carl Lewis, gymnast Mary Lou Retton and basketball great Michael Jordan.
But it wasn’t just those athletic moments that have lived on in the minds of fans who witnessed history in the making.
Those responsible for putting on those Games pulled off something unthinkable: The 1984 L.A. Olympic Organizing Committee, led by Peter Ueberroth, made an estimated profit of $232.5 million.
Part of that surplus went toward the creation of the LA84 Foundation, which promotes youth sports by removing barriers and aiming to give all children, regardless of their socioeconomic background or ability, opportunities to participate in sports.
Since its inception, the foundation has invested more than $230 million in youth sports programs and served 4 million young people, according to its website.
“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 something good lasted after the Games went home,” said Renata Simril, president and CEO of the LA84 Foundation.
Fittingly, Friday’s hearing was held at the LA84 Foundation headquarters in midcity.
Former elected official Zev Yaroslavsky, who served on the L.A. City Council during the 1984 Games, told committee members one of his fondest memories of those Olympics was a weeks-long arts festival that preceded the Games.
He offered, as another example of the legacies of the ’84 Games, the L.A. Opera company, which is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year. When Spanish opera singer Plácido Domingo came for the Olympics in 1984 and saw there was no opera company in L.A., he set out to open one. L.A. Opera opened two years later.
“Maybe the biggest legacy of the Games had nothing to do with the athletics. It had to do with the arts and culture,” Yaroslavsky said.
After a couple of speakers Friday told the committee they were sad that there would be no arts festival in 2028 like there was in 1984, McKinnor said she wanted to know why one isn’t being planned for the upcoming Games.
Other issues raised by committee members or speakers Friday included questions such as what is being done to ensure the economic benefits of hosting the Games will be equitable amongst communities; whether local small businesses have the support and resources to compete as vendors; how to deal with traffic and security and if L.A. or state officials are checking to make sure the LA28 organizing committee is on track to pull off the Games without going into debt.
The Assembly committee’s next meeting will be at the state Capitol on April 6. That meeting will focus on work that’s taking place to prepare for the 2028 Olympics.