Can Los Angeles Beat the Olympics' Cost Curse?

Last month, Los Angeles was chosen as the U.S. Olympic Committee's official bid for the 2024 Summer Games after Boston, the initial selection, revolted over taxpayers potentially picking up a piece of what is often a very large bill. The group No Boston Olympics protested, public opinion was awfully sour, and Mayor Martin Walsh ultimately rejected backstopping the games' budget, declaring, "I refuse to mortgage the future of the city away."

Promotional materials from LA24, the city's Olympic bid committee, are wrapped in the sunny and determined glow of California optimism, and have so far not prompted a visible, organized opposition. Still, there is concern that the city would most likely be on the hook for typical cost overruns. In a letter to city council members, City Controller Ron Galperin urged officials to "safeguard Angelenos and our city government from possible losses—and to avoid placing our city in a position wherein we might have to indemnify the U.S. Olympic Committee or any other entity from losses they might incur."