NICK’S VIEW - Los Angeles is caught in a trap of its own making.
The 2028 Los Angeles Olympics will be run by LA28, the organizing committee. But its structure creates a serious contradiction that harms Los Angeles: LA28 controls the money, Los Angeles bears the financial risk—and the city cannot review the books.
Under the 2017 Host City Contract with the International Olympic Committee (IOC), Los Angeles is the Games’ primary financial guarantor.
If cost overruns occur, LA must cover the first $270 million. The State of California would then cover the next $270 million. Beyond that, local taxpayers have no protection and face unlimited liability, leaving the city responsible for any remaining debt—a common outcome in modern Olympic history.
Imagine, bearing the ultimate financial risk without the authority to oversee how LA28 allocates its budget. Recently, it sought to be granted city audit mechanisms to verify if local vendors are actually local, and to review its procurement plans. Not so, said LA28 and denied the request. It refused to expand its reporting obligations beyond the existing contract.
Under the Games Agreement, LA28 must give the city annual audited financial statements, budget updates, insurance and risk-management plans, and contracts exceeding $1 million. But these materials are curated, high-level, after-the-fact summaries—not the detailed records needed to assess risk, verify spending, or protect taxpayers.
The lack of transparency casts LA28’s leadership in poor light and reflects badly on Casey Wasserman, LA28’s chairman. While Wasserman is responsible for setting the tone and culture around transparency, day-to-day operations fall to Reynold Hoover, a retired Army lieutenant general who served as the deputy commander of the United States Northern Command. He became CEO in June 2024, reports directly to Wasserman and provides the city with required financial data.
The risk is so enormous, I strongly believe that the city should file a lawsuit. I fully understand the suit would likely face a steep, risky path with little chance of a quick victory. LA28 is organized as a private nonprofit, not a public agency, and a judge may be unable to enforce standard open-records requirements. But even if the case against LA28 failed, suing would bring public attention to the structural problem LA28 has created for Los Angeles.
This dilemma began on September 13, 2017, when Los Angeles signed the Host City Contract 2028. The agreement reflects the IOC’s preferred model: the public entity bears the ultimate financial risk while a private operator controls day-to-day spending and the operational upside. This structure allows the IOC to retain control over branding, sponsorships, and event standards while shifting potential losses to the host city.
City Council members now recognize the trap in which Los Angeles fell but believe the Council can no longer fully undo the obligations it accepted a decade before. With no clear escape clauses, damage control may be the city’s only remaining option. The city has attempted to protect itself financially while fulfilling its Olympic obligations by approving the Enhanced City Resources Master Agreement (ECRMA).
The agreement defines the additional City services required for the Games, how those services will be costed, delivered, and reimbursed, the payment schedule, dispute-resolution rules, and the conditions LA28 must meet before declaring any surplus. It is not enough.
Four councilmembers — Monica Rodriguez, Nithya Raman, Eunisses Hernandez, and Ysabel Jurado — voted against the agreement and issued strong warnings.
Because the city cannot renegotiate the Host City Contract or control LA28, it is now trying, futilely, to build guardrails after the fact.
With the mayoral election set for November 3, I examined how the two candidates have responded to the city’s LA28 dilemma. Mayor Karen Bass has taken a markedly different approach to LA28’s governance, budget transparency, and financial risk than the more vocal Nithya Raman.
Bass has not publicly pushed to open LA28’s general ledger or challenge its private status in court. Instead, she has maintained a working relationship with LA28’s leadership, focusing on high-level commitments such as small business inclusion rather than LA28’s internal accounting.
Bass has pushed, with modest success, the federal government and state legislature for grants to support L.A.’s “car-free Games", an unrealistic vision.
By contrast, Raman, besides Rodriquez, has emerged as one of the City Council’s strongest critics of LA28’s secrecy and the city’s financial exposure. She has repeatedly opposed major agreements with LA28 and introduced motions demanding full fiscal accountability.
When the City Council voted on the Enhanced City Resources Master Agreement, Raman joined three other dissenters, arguing that it failed to protect L.A. taxpayers because it did not ensure all city expenses would be reimbursed before LA28 could declare a profit or direct funds to its post-Games legacy fund.
Los Angeles plainly stands to gain from the Olympics’ global visibility, civic pride, and international prestige. But the city must avoid being overwhelmed by the potential financial burden.
LA remains vulnerable, carrying substantial downside risk without meaningful control over the upside. Any Olympic setback could be devastating, which makes strong city leadership essential now.
(Nick Patsaouras is an electrical engineer, civic leader, and a longtime public advocate. He ran for Mayor in 1993 with a focus on rebuilding L.A. through transportation after the 1992 civil unrest. He has served on major public boards, including the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, Metro, and the Board of Zoning Appeals, helping guide infrastructure and planning policy in Los Angeles. He is the author of the book "The Making of Modern Los Angeles.")
