Evaluating LA bid for 2024 Olympics requires imagination
Los Angeles Olympic organizers often say their plan for two weeks of international competition is virtually realized, stressing that it requires no new construction of permanent venues.
Some of the opening ceremonies, including the famous Parade of Nations, would take place in a $2.6 billion NFL stadium just outside Los Angeles that today is a gouged, fenced-in lot crisscrossed by tire tracks.
The city notorious for its clotted freeway traffic will make use of a "growing public transit system," the LA proposal boasts.
[...] Los Angeles has billions of dollars of planned rail lines, but how many will be ready for the Games in seven years is largely a guess, given the uncertainties that come with major construction projects.
On Thursday, members of the IOC fanned out in several groups to privately tour the proposed venues, including the Rose Bowl, the site for soccer matches.
Hollywood studios were illuminated with the colors of an LA sunset and the logo for the city's bid to mark the arrival of the IOC.
Committee members attended a celebrity-studded dinner Wednesday where guests included retired Lakers great Kobe Bryant, Spanish tenor Placido Domingo and actor Sylvester Stallone.