LA 2024 adds labor leaders to its Olympic bidding campaign

The private committee bidding to bring the 2024 Summer Olympics to Los Angeles has added more local labor representation to its board of directors.

Rusty Hicks, who heads the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, AFL-CIO, and Laphonza Butler, president of the SEIU Local 2015, will join LA 2024’s campaign, it was announced Wednesday morning.

Last year, the committee brought in Maria Elena Durazo, who has a long history of union work in L.A.

Such support figures to be vital as LA 2024 seeks continuing city and county government approval for its ambitious effort.

“The presence of these galvanizing community leaders on LA 2024’s board of directors will no doubt enhance L.A.’s capacity to harness the huge potential of the Games,” City Council President Herb Wesson said in a statement.

Bid leaders have proposed staging the Games with a budget that could exceed $6 billion. They expect to pay all costs and generate a surplus through broadcast rights, corporate sponsorships and other revenue sources.

Some expenses also would be covered by private partnerships. However, if L.A. wins the bid, it would have to sign a guarantee that would put taxpayer dollars at risk if costs exceed revenues.

“I am excited to be involved in the campaign to bring the Games back here for the first time in a generation,” Butler said. “As a bid, we are listening to the voices of the hardworking people who are already creating the new, Games-ready L.A. today.”

Los Angeles is competing against Paris, Rome and Budapest, with the four cities recently advancing to the second stage of a process that will culminate with an International Olympic Committee vote in September 2017.

Earlier this week, bid leaders consulted with the IOC in the latest of a series of teleconferences. The next set of crucial meetings will take place at the 2016 Summer Games in Rio de Janeiro.

david.wharton@latimes.com

Follow me on Twitter