LOS ANGELES _ The 2028 Olympic Games should turn a record $1 billion profit, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti said Monday.
Garcetti shared his projection in speaking to the L.A. Sports Summit.
"I believe it to be very realistic," he said. "There is no question we will be in the high hundreds of millions."
Such a surplus would be unprecedented in the history of the Olympics, in an era when high costs have scared off cities from bidding to host the Games. The 1984 L.A. Games turned a reported $223 million profit. The 1988 Seoul Games reported a record $479 million profit, although observers said then that the figure did not account for all facility construction.
Garcetti said he based his surplus estimate in part by reviewing corporate sponsorship amounts committed to the 2020 Tokyo Games. Even in the unlikely event LA 2028 cannot sell its sponsorships for more money than Tokyo did, the L.A. Games would make more money because Los Angeles does not need to spend heavily to build sports facilities.
Garcetti also said he considered the LA 2028 estimates of ticket revenue to be "conservative."
The profit from the 1984 Olympics funded LA84, a foundation that has used those surplus funds to provide grants to more than 3,000 youth sports organizations, providing programming for almost 4 million children. Garcetti said a billion-dollar surplus from LA 2028 could provide a perpetual legacy for youth sports in the city.
"I think we can guarantee universal access to sports," he said, "possibly forever."
