LA Olympic bid to rely on further existing venues

Delivering an Olympic Games on a budget has been a major topic this year and the Californian metropolis feels its array of existing sports facilities can give it the edge in the 2024 race.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) is to choose the host city in September 2017 and now looks set to have only LA, Budapest and Paris to pick from after Rome Mayor Virginia Raggi announced that her city would not support the local bid, partly due to concerns about the cost.

A number of other cities including Boston and Hamburg have also ended Summer or Winter Games bids over the last two years over concerns the event's financing would spiral out of control. The recent Rio Games were hit by protests over costs while Tokyo 2020 decided to scale down its showpiece stadium.

Now LA has opted to propose Anaheim's Honda Center, the home of the National Hockey League's Anaheim Ducks, as a venue for volleyball. Long Beach's Convention Center, Arena, Waterfront and Pier would be used for handball, BMX, waterpolo, triathlon, sailing and open water swimming.

The Riviera Country Club golf course in Pacific Palisades, which has hosted the US Open and two PGA Championships, has been chosen as the potential venue for golf rather than building a new course.

"We're very pleased to add more world-class existing venues to our fiscally responsible and innovative Games Plan for 2024," LA 2024 chairman Casey Wasserman said in a statement.

"By relying on Southern California's wealth of top sports, housing and transportation infrastructure, LA 2024 will minimize construction risk, operational struggles and costs, and can focus on providing athletes with the perfect stage to perform their best, without distraction."

The announcement means LA would have no central Olympic Park and instead would have four clusters: Long Beach, downtown Los Angeles, the San Fernando Valley and the South Bay near Torrance.

mm/pfd (AP,AFP)