Blowing out the LA Olympic Torch

Kohei Jinno was 30 years old when his home was demolished in order to create space for the 1964 Tokyo Olympic National Stadium. A few years later, after struggling to make ends meet by washing cars, he was able to move back to the neighborhood. In 2013, 50 years later at age 80, he was forced to relocate again in order to rebuild the stadium for the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games. He was torn from his community, lost his home, his sense of stability, and as a result his well-being was altered. Twice. Since the late 1800s, the Olympic Game sporting tradition has served to be a peace promoter as athletes from all around the world compete in a number of different games while the rest of the world watches. What we fail to remember during this three-week mega-event are the lives that are disastrously altered, like Kohei Jinnos. In 2028, Los Angeles was invited to host the Summer Olympic Games for the third time in the history of the Games. While supporters argue the Olympic Games will bring capital to the city, Los Angeles should never have accepted the bid because the Games create vast economic repercussions and political harms while increasing unwelcome military-like presence.

The 1984 Los Angeles Olympics are not only the most profitable, standing at over $250 million made, but they are also widely known to be the most important Olympic event. The successful and innovative LA84 Olympic Games sparked a change in the intersection between sport and culture forever. Upon entering the check in station at the ‘Olympic Village’ located at UCLA housing, athletes were given a password to a system that connected them electronically to everyone in the ‘Olympic Family’ that included athletes, media, and volunteers. This was the first glimpse at an email communication channel. Along with the electronic message system, they were gifted with “swag bags” from the official outfitter, Levi Strauss, that contained free custom Olympic attire. Another noteworthy aspect of the 1984 Olympics was the sponsorship by ABC that cost the television network over $200 million. Not only was it the largest television contract to date in 1984, but after seeing success with the Games, other broadcast networks began bidding wars to hold TV rights for all future Games.

Los Angeles established strict rules regarding money in order to protect its own finances, which is part of the reason why they were able to be so profitable (Llewellyn, 2015). They treated the Olympic Games like a business, and chose to outsource the money via sponsorships, donors, and exclusive logo rights to avoid spending their own. This success makes supporters for future Olympics optimistic. Prior to the 1984 Olympics, cities viewed hosting the mega event as a major financial burden; however, after Los Angeles’ huge monetary success, everyone wanted to host the Games. No one has been even close to making a profit since, which is why Los Angeles 28 supporters feel that if anyone can do it again, it’s LA.

Los Angeles has seen great success from the Olympics in the past and because of that it is extremely equipped to host this mega event with the pre-existing infrastructure, but that doesn’t mean that it should. For the 2028 Games, Los Angeles plans to utilize their well-known stadiums like the USC Coliseum, the Crypto.com Arena, the Rosebowl, and much more surrounding the Southern California area. In a city where traffic congestion is already a huge problem, this event will bring even more as these stadiums are nowhere near each other. The UCLA housing is in Westwood, USC Coliseum and LAFC Stadium in South Central, Crypto.com Arena in Downtown LA, and the Rosebowl is in Pasadena, all a good 20–50 minutes away from each other.

The larger issue at hand beyond obvious issues with traffic is that the stadiums LA plans to utilize such as the USC Coliseum and the LAFC stadium are in predominantly low-income communities. As previously seen with Kohei Jinno, the Games have a history of harming these minority communities and economically vulnerable people (Robertson, 2021). When tourists come to LA, rent prices will skyrocket, driving thousands of Angelinos to be displaced away from their communities because they will no longer be able to afford these new prices. Gentrification and housing displacement are common outcomes for low-income communities in Olympic host cities. Even without any spectators the 2020 Tokyo Olympics displaced hundreds of households, and this has been a pattern throughout history (McDougall, MacIntosh, 2021).

Not only are many surrounding communities’ low-income neighborhoods, but Los Angeles has one of the highest homeless populations in the United States that will also be harmed by the Olympics as they will be forced to relocate. The Olympic Games have a history of affecting low-income communities, yet there has been no change. The Games Agreement, the contract between “the City of LA, the private LA28 Organizing Committee, and the International Olympic Committee” (NOlympics LA) suggests it works to advocate for the huge homeless population, but “LA28 chair Cassey Wasserman has admitted there will be sweeps that clear the unhoused individuals to prioritize the safety of tourists’’ (Robertson, 2021). Olympic protestors such as the NOlympics LA group argue that there will be no humane way to displace these citizens. Los Angeles will prioritize their image rather than help the individuals in their city that have lost their jobs or slipped off an unbeaten path and are forced to live on the streets. That is just the reality of the Olympics, though. It is about prioritizing how to make money or how good a country looks, and not about how the Games may be affecting those citizens in host cities. The experience of the Games for attendees is taking precedence over local humanitarian concerns.

NOlympics LA was among the first to give backlash once finding out that Los Angeles decided to host the 2028 Summer Olympic Games. The group highlights displacement, militarization, and emphasizes the need for democracy among the Olympic Games. They don’t care about how much money the Olympics make because regardless of the profit, they know the people who benefit are not those who dedicated endless hours to the Games. They address issues outlined in The Games Agreement, like the fact that it pretty much states LA has secured the 2028 Olympic spot without any input from anyone in LA but the City Council. NOlympics LA pushes to make Angelinos aware that the LA28 Olympic decision should have been a democratic vote and not a Los Angeles City Council vote as it affects everyone in Los Angeles directly. It re-emphasizes that LA will outsource money through the International Olympic Committee and sponsorships, and also states that during the three-week event security, police, traffic, and other services will be heightened. It is a vague outlined 25 page agreement that states by 2025 every detail such as pricing and official plans will be solidified.

Supporters look at what worked for the 1984 Olympics and believe that could be the same case for the 2028 Games, but things that worked would be unpalatable in our current climate. The Olympic Games host some of the best athletes in the world with thousands of people gathering in one city, causing increased militarization and military like police for this high-level security event. With the Los Angeles Olympic Games mainly hosted in low-income and minority neighborhoods, increased security can be dangerous for minority groups as they will live in fear of unnecessary police biases against them. In an article published by the New York Times in 1984 right before the Olympics, Robert Lindsey wrote “if there is a distinctive sound so far to the 1984 Olympic Games, it is the chop-chop noise of helicopter rotor blades whirling in the warm Southern California air” (Lindsey, 1984). The noise is due to the 100 plus security helicopters circulating the sky. In an effort to protect the citizens, the city turned itself into an unofficial military. Recently, we have seen an increase in the militarization of the police during the Black Lives Matter protests in Los Angeles. Police stood with batons suited up with rubber bullets, throwing the city in uproar. With this same militaristic look, modern day Angelenos will be unhappy and a similar uproar situation can occur during the Olympic Games.

The 1984 Games are part of the reason why LAPD has become militarized — police were aggressive especially in the minority communities that surrounded the Olympic stadiums for the Games. The Washington Post article titled “The 1984 Olympics fueled LA’s war on crime. Will the 2028 Do the Same?” discusses the negative impacts the increased militarization had for the host city. Felker-Kantor states that “for many poor African American or Latino youths living in the South-Central neighborhoods surrounding the Coliseum — the Olympic Games did not lead to prosperity. But they did lead to the greater responsibility of police harassment, arrest, and incarceration that came to be associated with the War on Drugs (Felker-Kantor, 2021).” There is no way to stop this from happening again as LA has no way to predict how their law enforcement will treat their citizens.

Many things have changed since 1984 — one being the cost of the dollar due to inflation. Goods and services costs have drastically increased since then and money has far less value now. Since 1984, today’s prices are 2.77 times what they were then (In2013Dollars). To put it into perspective, the ABC contract then was $200 million and now would equate to roughly $554 million. A couple years ago, LA28 secured a corporate sponsor, Delta Air Lines, for $400 million. LA28 intends to be privately funded through these sponsorships, but they’re going to need a lot more to even be comparable to 1 sponsor in 1984.

Clearly hosting the Olympic Games is not cheap, and it drives many cities into debt as they spend billions of dollars on infrastructure, security costs, workers, and many more things. Los Angeles has pre-existing infrastructure, but the games are still expensive and require billion-dollar budgets for a three-week event. The major costs include security, employees, event management such as organization and preparation for ceremonies, transportation, as well as marketing material placed throughout the city and advertisements on social media. While the Olympics create thousands of local jobs and income to hotels, restaurants, and other LA attractions, the lack of centralized location doesn’t have the same benefit as it would in another location as these local businesses are not getting an abundance of profit from tourists. Even if it’s happening in multiple areas around the city, once spectators are in a stadium they aren’t benefiting the local economy.

Hosting the Olympic Games used to be manageable; however, for the past couple decades, the Olympic Games have been well over billions of dollars. They will no longer be able to produce an economic benefit for Los Angeles because the factors that were capable of making it successful have changed. The 2020 Tokyo Olympics cost $13.6 billion, 2018 PyeongChang cost $15 billion, and 2016 Rio de Janeiro $13 billion (McBride & Manno, 2021). The biggest difference between Los Angeles and these other cities is that we have pre existing infrastructure, yet even still because of the other factors involved, the LA Olympic Budget is nearly $7 billion dollars. Olympic Games produce chaos and bring little economic benefit to the host country. That’s not to mention that debt to the city affects everyone, it translates to lower wages and less economic opportunity.

The Olympics are a very special tradition that teach us we ultimately are all people of this Earth and through this unity we remember to promote peace through sport. They are extremely entertaining to watch and are very inspiring for the youth of the world to look up to these athletes that dedicate their lives to sport. It is truly a huge accomplishment for an athlete and is highly honorable. This paper isn’t meant to abolish the Olympics, it is meant to raise awareness to the disastrous consequences it brings to each host city and their citizens through a specific analysis of why the Olympics shouldn’t come to Los Angeles. The new Olympic plan that I propose is to not alternate based on bids from host cities quadrennially, but to have around 4 newly created cities around the world that switch off on the same regular quadrennial calendar. Host cities are capable of spending over $10 billion dollars for the Olympics, and if the countries of the world come together to create these locations, it does not feel too far out of reach. This way, we are creating Olympic Villages that don’t just house, but also are a central location for all the Games to be in one place that gives every country a sense of belonging. A lot of countries are incapable of hosting because of the costly element, and this brings a village that everyone came together to create which in itself would be very special. When the Olympics aren’t going on, the cities will be on display for the world to come and look at the beautiful locations, almost like a Museum. In host cities, after the Olympic Games are over there are almost immediate tear downs and this way all Olympic athletes’ accomplishments will always be on display forever.

When you think about the purpose of the Olympics, who are they meant for? Athletes spend their entire lives gearing up for this. Host cities spend billions of dollars to prepare for the Games to have the experience and honor of hosting, anticipating a profit. Spectators get the enjoyment of watching. The quadrennial host cities are exciting, but are an afterthought as it doesn’t matter where the Games are held, all we need is infrastructure, athletes, spectators, and broadcast networks. Sports have always been vital in life through providing entertainment, discipline, and improving overall health and well-being. They have created a universal language that gives the world a shared special connection, especially heightened during the quadrennial Olympic Games, but these Games need to live up to their expectations of contributing to world peace. The issues they bring for host cities do the opposite of promoting peace as they cause these issues of increased militarization, housing displacements, and increased debt.

When looking at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, they did something different which has never been done before. They created a city called the ‘Harumi Flag’ that was a large urban project that housed all of the Olympic athletes, team members, and staff during the Olympics. The Games weren’t held there, but the future cities I propose should also have infrastructure for the Olympics. So, like the Harumi Flag it would be new urban projects, where the world can work on and contribute together. If we created 4 villages around the world similar to the Harumi Flag, it solves a lot of Olympic host city issues but also keeps the Games intention of playing sport to promote peace.

While the Olympic Games blend sports, culture, and education, it has a history of negative impacts on the host city that causes housing displacements, debt, and increased military-like presence. For a city with pre-existing issues in all three categories, Los Angeles should have never accepted a bid. The potential economic and political impacts are going to tear apart the city of Los Angeles and bring nothing good. Advocates for the Games argue that if there’s any city that can host an Olympic Games, it’s Los Angeles. Although Los Angeles was capable of generating a profit, that statement should not be held true as the Games disproportionately affect LA’s most vulnerable.

References:

Delaplace M, Schut P-O. Hosting the Olympic Games : Uncertainty, Debates, and Controversy. Routledge; 2020.

Dyreson, M., & Llewellyn, M. (2008). Los Angeles is the Olympic City: Legacies of the 1932 and 1984 Olympic Games. The International Journal of the History of Sport, 25(14), 1991–2018. https://doi.org/10.1080/09523360802439007

Felker-Kantor, Max. “Analysis | the 1984 Olympics Fueled L.A.’s War on Crime. Will the 2028 Games Do the Same?” The Washington Post, WP Company, 28 Oct. 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/made-by-history/wp/2017/08/06/the-1984-olympics-fueled-l-a-s-war-on-crime-will-the-2028-games-do-the-same/.

Lindsey, Robert. “Security Is Called Largest in Peacetime.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 26 July 1984, https://www.nytimes.com/1984/07/26/sports/the-olympics-los-angeles-84-security-is-called-largest-in-peacetime.html.

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McBride, James, and Melissa Manno. “The Economics of Hosting the Olympic Games.” Council on Foreign Relations, Council on Foreign Relations, https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/economics-hosting-olympic-games.

McDougall, Michael, and MacIntosh Ross. “Perspective | the Olympics Is a Disaster for People Who Live in Host Cities.” The Washington Post, WP Company, 28 July 2021, https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2021/07/29/olympics-is-disaster-people-who-live-host-cities/.

NOlympicsLA. “Home 2021.” NOlympics LA, 10 Feb. 2022, https://nolympicsla.com/.

Robertson, Cerianne. “Insurance for Elites, but Not for LA: Our Analysis of the LA 2028 Olympics Games Agreement.” NOlympics LA, 29 Nov. 2021, https://nolympicsla.com/2021/11/28/insurance-for-elites-but-not-for-la-our-analysis-of-the-la-2028-olympics-games-agreement/.

Szabo, Matthew W, and Sharon M Tso. “File No 15–0989 — Clkrep.lacity.org.” 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Agreement, https://clkrep.lacity.org/onlinedocs/2015/15-0989_rpt_adhocoly_11-29-21.pdf.