Peter Ueberroth's Legacy: How the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics Changed the Trajectory of the Olympic Movement

Abstract

Interest in staging the Olympic Games waned in cities across the world in the 1970s, given the intrusion of world geo-politics on recent festivals and the exploding costs of staging them. In running the show in Los Angeles, Peter Ueberroth prioritised pre-existing facilities, a new and more profitable means of affiliating corporate sponsors with an organising committee, and maximising revenue from television rights negotiations. His success encouraged cities to re-enter the bidding for Olympic festivals, and when combined with initiatives launched by the International Olympic Committee's (IOC) President, Juan Antonio Samaranch, brighter days for the IOC lay ahead in the 1980s and 1990s. Yet, Ueberroth's legacy was not well managed ultimately by Samaranch, who permitted the enhanced competition among bid cities, and the behaviour of bid officials and some of his own members to endanger the IOC's reputation and autonomy, highlighted notably by the Salt Lake City scandal. Last, in light of the cost of the Olympic festivals in Beijing and Sochi, and its dampening effect on the current host city bidding environment, it seems wise for the IOC and future bid cities to re-visit the Ueberroth model for lessons in cost containment, and like Ueberroth, exhibit a willingness to explore novel, more cost-effective means for cities to host the Olympic Games.