It will cost Los Angeles around $4.6 billion to host the 2024 Olympics, if the math done by the nonprofit group working to bring the global sports event to the city is accurate.
A budget listed inside a draft book released by LA24 also estimates that projected revenue should reach $4.8 billion, and lead to a $161 million profit.
The proposal mentions that around 80% of the venues will be new, with the Olympic Village situated along the LA River and the centerpiece Olympic Stadium to be at a refurbished Los Angeles Coliseum.
The city last hosted the Olympics in 1984, and Los Angeles City Council is expected to decide this week whether the city should officially join Rome, Hamburg, Paris, and Budapest as bid cities for the 2024 Olympics. Other potential applicants for the event include Nairobi, Doha, Washington, D.C., and Toronto.
Any city wishing to host the Olympics should carefully weigh the financial pros-and-cons, if recent history is anything to go by. The London Olympics in 2012 barely broke even, while China made an operating profit of around $146 million from hosting the 2008 Olympics, and Athens accrued a debt burden of around $14 billion, with many saying the financial liability contributed to the eventual Greek debt crisis.
