The Los Angeles Olympic Games: Planning Legacies

Eva Kassens Noor

doi:10.1007/978-3-030-38553-8_1

Abstract

The purpose of this book is to identify legacies arising from the bidding and planning process for Los Angeles’ 2028 Summer Olympic Games. Providing a brief historical account of the bidding processes and legacies for the 1932 and 1984 Olympics, the book answers the question of why LA won the 2028 Olympic bid. LA’s Olympic bidding process is the story of a city hosting the Games in which the process of bidding in an adversarial anti-Olympic bid climate was custom made for LA. The focus of the book lies on testing the premise whether and why the bid boosters’ claim “we have done it before, we can do it again” may or may not hold for LA’s 2028 legacies. Four elements challenge similar legacies from previous Games: the proposed dual opening and closing ceremony, the under-construction gigantic NFL stadium, and the vast planned transport expansion of LA challenge similar legacies from previous LA Games. No matter the legacy outcomes, the future two Olympic hosts including LA 2028 will determine the fate of the International Olympic Committee, the Olympics brand, and the Olympic Games.

Highlights

Goal of the section: overview of the book’s main argument, content, and structure while introducing the reader to the basic concepts of Olympic planning and hosting.Los Angeles (LA)’s 2028 Olympic mantra and bid premise “We have done it before, we can do it again” promises Angelenos beneficial Games’ legacies
I argue in this book that while LA’s bid promises for staging the Olympics remained similar for the three Olympics, the global Olympic and local LA contexts have changed to the extent that for the 2028 Olympics, Los Angeles might receive different legacies than planned
The LA Section of the American Planning Association administered the survey, which contained questions about experiences planners have had in and with their communities, thoughts they have about the upcoming Olympic Games, and perceived impacts the Olympic bid had on Angelenos and themselves

Summary

Introduction

LA’s 2028 Olympic mantra and bid premise “We have done it before, we can do it again” promises Angelenos beneficial Games’ legacies. Legacies are tangible or intangible, positive or negative, short-or long-term impacts the Games have on Olympic host cities. I argue in this book that while LA’s bid promises for staging the Olympics remained similar for the three Olympics, the global Olympic and local LA contexts have changed to the extent that for the 2028 Olympics, Los Angeles might receive different legacies than planned. The privately financed American Summer Games were based on the mega-event strategy that is consumption based (Burbank et al 2001). While American hosts received intangible benefits (e.g., place brand value), urban development impacts were meagre (Andranovich and Burbank 2011)

Results

Discussion

Conclusion