L.A. Stays on U.S. List for 2016 Games

Los Angeles, San Francisco and Chicago stayed in the race as the U.S. Olympic Committee on Wednesday trimmed its list of candidate cities for the 2016 Summer Games, eliminating Philadelphia and Houston.

The action moves the USOC closer to a formal entry into the 2016 contest. If the USOC jumps in, one of the three cities would be picked next spring as the sole U.S. candidate. The International Olympic Committee will choose the 2016 site in 2009.

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said in a telephone interview: “It’s a great day for Angelenos. We’re one step closer to realizing our dream of the 2016 Games in this city where the whole world comes together.”

But USOC officials again made it plain that it’s far from clear they’re in.

“We have to figure out at the end who has the best chance to win, and if anybody does,” USOC Chairman Peter Ueberroth said during a news conference in Denver.

Financial issues have long dogged the USOC’s relationships with the IOC. Also, the USOC’s political influence abroad has waned considerably. And any American bid must cope with the geopolitics of the unique U.S. role as the world’s lone superpower.

This year has seen American officials significantly intensify efforts overseas to repair the USOC brand. An informal USOC canvassing in recent weeks of 100 Olympic insiders turned up only three who said the U.S. should not bid for 2016.

However, Ueberroth said, “of the three cities that were selected today, there are none that have an acceptable program that we could take to the International Olympic Committee. None.”

Chicago and San Francisco have presented plans that emphasize their waterfronts; each needs a suitable stadium.

The primary challenge facing Los Angeles may be history. The Games have already been staged in Los Angeles twice, in 1984 and 1932. Los Angeles’ challenge is not venues; virtually every structure needed is already on the ground, much of it new since the 1984 Olympics.

“It’s Los Angeles, but it’s new. That’s the truth,” said Barry Sanders, head of the Los Angeles bid committee. “We’re going to give them an Olympics like nobody else could.”

The 2016 bid has sought in part to highlight the remaking of downtown L.A., including the construction of such sites as L.A. Live, now underway next to Staples Center. The $2.5-billion sports and entertainment complex is scheduled to include two upscale hotels, luxury condominiums, restaurants, an ESPN broadcasting studio, a Grammy museum and more.

Also under consideration in a bid to generate excitement for a third L.A. Games is an unprecedented joining of Hollywood and Olympic stories. Details remain to be worked out.