The premise that Los Angeles should withdraw from hosting of the 2028 Olympics needs a counterpoint.
Here it is: bad idea.
At least some of the negativity stems from an appearance by LA28 Chairman Casey Wasserman with Donald Trump in Washington last week. Wasserman made nice and got pilloried as a “suck-up” and a “kiss-ass.”
Wasserman is neither a kiss-ass, nor a suck-up. Nor should Los Angeles pull out of the Games.
Wasserman did what he had to do in the meeting with the president, which is rise above all the political stink that surrounds everything these days. His mandate was obvious. He had to get through the ceremony, smile a lot and never lose his cool. Do it for the good of the city he has lived in all his life and contributed to heavily in so many ways. Rise above all the pettiness and foolishness that surrounded him. Do it for the greater good, which will be a third successful Olympics for a city that has established its unique ability to do this very difficult thing very well.
Wasserman completes a trio of Los Angeles Olympic executives who are legendary, and deserve to be.
William May Garland traveled to Amsterdam for its Olympics in 1928. In other Olympic meetings prior to that, he asked officials what it would take to get the Games to his city. Their response was “where is Los Angeles?” Four years later, with a sparkling new Memorial Coliseum, a first-ever Olympic Village for the athletes and a superstar named Babe Didrikson Zaharias winning two gold medals, the world knew where Los Angeles was.
Peter Ueberroth was a little-known travel executive who took over the 1984 Olympic effort and did so with the free world in turmoil over the Soviet Bloc. Ueberroth knew what he was facing: traffic nightmares, cost overruns, lifestyle disruptions in a city that abhors such things.
Also, high-stakes international turmoil. The Soviets would likely boycott, answering President Carter’s mandated boycott of Moscow’s 1980 Games, and they did. By then, Ueberroth had sent emissaries to all the Soviet Bloc countries and several of those countries came to L.A., despite the Soviet Union’s orders. In all, Ueberroth delivered.
Los Angeles had been the only bidder for the 1932 Games, with the world on the brink of war. In ‘84, the L.A. committee, led by businessman John Argue, that won the bid went all in as most of the rest of the world shivered under the threat of Soviet aggression. That time, Los Angeles had one competitor: Tehran.
When Garland’s Olympics ended, it had produced a profit of $1 million. That translates to more than $20 million in today’s money. When Ueberroth and his team were finished in 1984, the profit was slightly north of $250 million. Much of that still circulates in Los Angeles through the LA84 Foundation, headquartered on Adams Avenue, which invests and distributes annually to hundreds of local charities, mostly children’s, and many sports groups.
Simply put, that history, those local glories of 1932 and 1984, are too precious, too meaningful, to walk away from over dislike of Donald Trump, political fears or even naysayers’ money fears. When the 1984 Games worked, spinning off into two weeks of joy, celebration, achievement and emotional wonder, it was all about the athletes. Every Olympics is. What they do and how they do it understandably push politics, international bickering and egotistical showmanship and fundraising to the background.
Wasserman smiling with Trump does not equate to CBS’ caving with a $16-million payout to Trump over a perfectly legitimate “60 Minutes” interview. Not even close. Nor is he inviting Trump to light the torch in the opening ceremonies, although this very mention might be dangerous.
Casey Wasserman understands what he has undertaken and how difficult it is, and will continue to be, for three more years. Yucking it up right now with the president is survival, a purchase of time to organize and progress. Not surrender.
For a while, Angelenos need to put away their knee-jerk Olympic prognostications. There may come a time for doom and gloom, but not now.
Bill Dwyre was sports editor of The Times for 25 years and a sports columnist for nine more before retiring in 2015. He organized The Times coverage of the ’84 Olympics and was named National Editor of the Year in 1985 by the National Press Foundation for that coverage.
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