USOC Doesn’t Tip Its Hand

As they did with the first seven cities on their itinerary, members of the U.S. Olympic Committee’s Site Evaluation Team declared Los Angeles to be a can-do city with nice weather, impressive venues and many virtues that would make it a fine site for the 2012 Games.

What the task force didn’t say Sunday after wrapping up its four-day visit is whether Los Angeles stands above its rivals because it has proven not only that it can do the Olympics, but has done so twice with great success.

Delegation leader Charles Moore said he found much to admire during the whirlwind tour of 21 of 28 prospective sites. He also praised the politicians, business leaders and Olympians who greeted the team at every stop or made presentations in private meetings.

“It’s very clear that LA2012 has the commitment to host the 2012 Games,” he said, “and there was not a second we were here that did not remind us of that, and we like that kind of attitude.”

However, he offered little insight into whether L.A.’s can-do spirit translates to will-do for a historic third time.

“It’s hard to read,” said David Simon, president of LA2012 and the Los Angeles Sports Council. “I think we showed well, but I’m not taking anything for granted. We have a lot of work to do between now and a couple of months from now, when they make their recommendations.”

Before dispersing, the evaluation team held a final meeting to rank its final four stops--New York, Tampa, the San Francisco Bay Area and L.A. The other cities hoping to gain the USOC’s backing are Cincinnati, Dallas, Houston and Washington.

The USOC executive board will meet next month in Salt Lake City to rank all eight cities and will announce three or four finalists Oct. 26. It will choose a U.S. representative in October 2002, and the International Olympic Committee will select the overall winner in 2005. In the month since Beijing was awarded the 2008 Summer Games, cities around the world have been mulling whether to bid for the 2012 Games; Paris and London are among the expected candidates.

Moore, a philanthropist and 1952 400-meter hurdles gold medalist, lauded the Arrowhead Pond, Bren Center and Edison Field, which have sprung up since L.A. hosted the 1984 Games.

He also commended LA2012’s theme of “Ready, Set, Gold,” local cultural attractions, and “enticing beaches with real surf.” It was almost enough to forget his similarly polite but noncommittal comments in the other seven cities.

Los Angeles, he said, has “the best in Olympic venues and venue management. Like no other U.S. bid city, you have substantial Olympic history and a very good track record. You have institutionalized your desire to host the Games. Think about it: 12 bids, two successes. You are pros at event management.”

He declined to identify the bid’s faults, although those shortcomings were relayed to LA2012 members in an earlier debriefing. People familiar with the bid have said the USOC team questioned the area’s air quality, LA2012’s strategy to manage transportation and traffic, and its plan to house athletes in villages at USC and UCLA instead of at a single complex.

“We work at identifying strengths, we don’t try to identify weaknesses,” Moore said during a news conference at the California Yacht Club in Marina del Rey.

“This city has the capabilities, I’ve already said, to host the Games. Of course, there are things they can do better, but this city has not only the capacity to do it, but also the will do it. We are confident [regarding] any of the shortcomings, that they can go ahead and address those.”

Simon also declined to discuss the USOC team’s assessment. But he acknowledged regret that scheduling and logistics precluded taking delegates on the subway, which might have allayed their fears that insufficient public transportation will snarl traffic.

“The next time we get a visit like this, we might want to take them on public transportation,” he said.

Said Rich Perelman, LA2012’s technical director: “We have strong stories to tell, but I don’t think we absolutely maximized our ability to tell those stories. They asked some questions and I think they identified some areas we’re strong in.

“If we get to the second round, that’s the benefit to us of being last. We received the benefit of their having been in seven other cities and asking the sharpest possible questions.”

Greg Harney, the USOC’s managing director for the Games and organizational support and site evaluation manager, said LA2012 struck a balance between relying on its Olympic experience and demonstrating its ability to adapt to changing times.

“They worked hard to make sure this is a different look,” he said. “It wasn’t so much that we wanted to see the facilities as the fact it was seeing the people they have who will be involved. That, to us, is very, very important. Mayors and all kinds of elected officials can change [before 2012]. Where is our link going to be?”

Simon also said LA2012 will purchase private insurance as a guarantee against the Games generating a deficit. The USOC requires each bid city to “provide financial guarantees obtained from competent city authorities” by Nov. 30. Simon said the rules permit having a private, third-party guarantor instead of relying on tax money or government funding, as other cities have done.

LA2012 plans to stage the Games without using taxpayers’ money and has projected a profit of $96 million.

“We think the chance [of incurring a deficit] is very small if you don’t have to spend a lot of money on construction, and we don’t,” Simon said.