{"id":444932,"date":"2025-12-13T18:26:37","date_gmt":"2025-12-13T18:26:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/444932\/"},"modified":"2025-12-13T18:26:37","modified_gmt":"2025-12-13T18:26:37","slug":"l-a-vs-la28-could-the-city-sue-over-the-cost-of-the-olympics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/444932\/","title":{"rendered":"L.A. vs. LA28: Could the city sue over the cost of the Olympics?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Good morning, and welcome to L.A. on the Record \u2014 our City Hall newsletter. It\u2019s Noah Goldberg, with an assist from David Zahniser, giving you the latest on city and county government. <\/p>\n

With the 2028 Summer Olympics creeping closer, the Los Angeles City Council still has not come to an agreement with the private committee overseeing the Games over who will pay for the additional city services required to host athletes and spectators from around the world. <\/p>\n

With hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars at stake, the city has blown past its own Oct. 1 deadline for hammering out an \u201cEnhanced City Resources Master Agreement\u201d contract with LA28 and is now considering filing suit.<\/p>\n

City officials indicated the potential for a lawsuit against LA28 Monday during a meeting of the council\u2019s ad hoc Olympics committee. In closed session, the committee conferred \u201cwith its legal counsel relative to possible initiation of litigation,\u201d according to the meeting agenda. <\/p>\n

But after a lengthy closed-door meeting, the committee broke without moving any closer to suing LA28.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was no recommendation to move forward on litigation,\u201d said Councilmember Bob Blumenfield<\/b>, who sits on the Olympic committee, in a brief interview with The Times after the closed session. <\/p>\n

Although it remains unclear exactly why the city might sue LA28, the stakes of the negotiations between the two parties are high. <\/p>\n

The Olympics have repeatedly been billed as a \u201czero cost\u201d event for Los Angeles, with the city\u2019s costs reimbursed by LA28 and the federal government. But depending on how \u201cenhanced services\u201d are defined, the city, which is facing financial headwinds<\/a>, could end up bearing significant costs for services, including security, trash removal, traffic control and paramedics, that will go well beyond what it provides on typical days. <\/p>\n

One of the biggest expenses will be security, with the LAPD, as well as a host of other local, state and federal agencies, working to keep athletes and spectators safe during the 17-day Olympics and the two-week Paralympics.<\/p>\n

During a presentation before the council committee on Monday, City Administrative Officer Matt Szabo<\/b> used the Dodgers\u2019 2024 World Series victory parade as an example of a similar, albeit much smaller scale, situation. <\/p>\n

The baseball team reimbursed the city nearly $2 million for police, fire department, transportation and other services to pull off the parade safely.<\/p>\n

Monday\u2019s developments provided a small glimpse into the secretive negotiations between the two sides. Coupled with the missed October deadline to finalize an agreement, it was apparent that the negotiations were not going completely smoothly. <\/p>\n

A senior city official, who requested anonymity to discuss sensitive negotiations, said the city is not at an \u201cirresolvable impasse\u201d with LA28 but that litigation is very much on the table in an effort to make sure the city is fully reimbursed. <\/p>\n

The city and LA28 are meeting daily to try to hash out an agreement, the source said, characterizing the negotiations as \u201cintense and focused.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAll parties are working actively at the table to finalize the [ECRMA] that will ensure reimbursement of the city\u2019s costs required by the 2028 Games,\u201d the city and LA28 said in a joint statement to The Times.<\/p>\n

Szabo told the council committee that it\u2019s more important to get a good deal than an on-time deal.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis needs to be the right agreement for the city,\u201d Szabo said.<\/p>\n

The city also hopes to recoup some costs from the federal government. President<\/b> Trump\u2019s <\/b>\u201cBig Beautiful Bill\u201d included $1 billion to reimburse state and local governments for security, planning and other Olympics-related costs. But exactly what the money can be used for won\u2019t be known until next year, Szabo said.<\/p>\n

But the unpredictability of the Trump administration has left the city and LA28 wary about whether all the security costs will be reimbursed, said Council President Marqueece Harris-Dawson<\/b>.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith this administration, you don\u2019t know what the hell is going to happen, right?\u201d Harris-Dawson said during the Los Angeles Current Affairs Forum Luncheon on Thursday. \u201cSo both of us [the city and LA28] are looking at a $1.5-billion bill, and we\u2019re like, \u2018Yeah, I\u2019m not paying it. You\u2019re gonna pay it.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

So far, Harris-Dawson said, the federal government has been \u201cgood\u201d about putting money aside for the Games. But that could change, Harris-Dawson said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI could show up here 10 days from now and the world could have turned on its head, because you just never know how the guy\u2019s gonna wake up in the morning, or what he\u2019s gonna see on TV to make him react,\u201d he said of Trump. \u201cSo … it\u2019s day to day, but on this particular issue, so far so good.\u201d<\/p>\n

Outside of security, LA28 should cover costs like staffing, expenses and equipment related to the Games, Szabo said.<\/p>\n

Some don\u2019t have high expectations that the costs will be completely footed by others. In a July letter to the city, retired civil rights attorney Connie Rice<\/b> said she had heard from city employees worried that L.A. would be left with a massive bill. <\/p>\n

What if LA28 dissolves after the Olympics \u2014 how would the city force it to provide reimbursement? Security and other city services typically extend beyond the Olympic venue itself \u2014 how large of a radius around the venue would be included in the reimbursement?<\/p>\n

These are questions Rice feels the city has not yet answered.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have seen 10th-graders plan their prom better than the city is planning these Olympics,\u201d Rice said in an interview.<\/p>\n

You\u2019re reading the L.A. on the Record newsletter State of play<\/p>\n

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