Los Angeles will bid for the 2028 Olympics, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) announced on Monday, opening the door for Paris to get the 2024 Games.
The IOC had decided on July 11 to award the two Summer Games in a single decision on September 13 at its session in Lima, pending a tripartite agreement between the IOC and the two cities that were originally both bidding for 2024.
The agreement is set to be finalized in August, and LA's 2028 bid also requires final approval from the city council and the United States Olympic Committee (USOC).
The 2028 host city contract will include 1.8 billion dollars in IOC funding for LA, the IOC said. An IOC evaluation commission also will reassess LA's bid.
The announcement confirmed expectations that Paris would host in 2024, with Los Angeles to follow, if concessions were made.
Paris previously hosted the Games in 1900 and 1924, while Los Angeles was the Olympic venue in 1932 and 1984.
"The IOC welcomes this decision of the Los Angeles Olympic and Paralympic Candidature Committee, and we are pleased to release the Host City contract 2028 in a transparent and timely manner," IOC President Thomas Bach said.
"We are very happy that, as part of this Host City Contract, we are able to increase the access of the city's youth to sport, and encourage the healthy lifestyle of Angelenos for the next 11 years," Bach said.
Los Angeles would receive 160 million dollars for youth sports programming ahead of the 2028 Olympics, Mayor Eric Garcetti said Monday evening on Twitter.
The investment would come "in the years leading up to the 2028 Games to expand access to sports programming for the kids in our city," Garcetti said.
Garcetti had mentioned youth sports funding in the past, suggesting the Californians could be ready to leave 2024 for Paris and be content with 2028.
US President Donald Trump is "proud" to support the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles, the White House said in a statement Monday evening.
"For the first time in a generation, the Olympics are coming back to the United States, and I am proud to support LA 2028," Trump said, congratulating the bid team on a plan to "ensure LA 2028 demonstrates the best in American creativity, innovation, and hospitality."
"I am confident that the Summer Games in Los Angeles will exemplify both the Olympic ideal and the American spirit, and we look forward to hosting them," he said.
LA and Paris were declared strong candidates in a recent report by the 2024 evaluation commission, and Bach has highlighted that both were planning on using a record number of existing and temporary facilities in line with Olympic Agenda 2020 reforms.
"This is an historic day for Los Angeles, for the United States and for the Olympic and Paralympic Movements around the world," Garcetti said in a USOC statement.
"Today, we take a major step toward bringing the Games back to our city for the first time in a generation and begin a new chapter in Los Angeles' timeless Olympic story," he said.
"This agreement with the IOC will allow us to seed a legacy of hope and opportunity that will lift up every community in Los Angeles - not in 11 years' time, but starting now and continuing in the years leading up to the Games," he said.
Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo said on Twitter she expects a positive outcome of the talks and three winners, the IOC and the two cities.
"We want to propose to the IOC members the most ambitious project possible for the future of Olympism. I am very optimistic that we will do our utmost to ensure that the vote in Lima on 13 September is a historic moment," Hidalgo said.
"We are very confident that we can reach a tripartite agreement ... creating a win-win-win situation for all three partners," Bach said.
The three-party agreement likely will determine whether or not the two cities still need to make big and costly formal presentations in Lima. Both cities made presentations to IOC members on July 11, with French President Emmanuel Macron present to lobby for Paris.
The first double awarding since 1921 - when Paris got 1924 and Amsterdam 1928 - has both cities available in difficult times for the IOC, and gives Olympians time to reshape the bid process.
Huge costs have overshadowed recent bids and Games, and several cities have dropped out of bid campaigns - including, for 2024: Boston, Budapest, Hamburg and Rome.
Bach has said the bid process has too many losers and that less money must be spent.
By Frank Fuhrig and John Bagratuni
