Games are made. Or almost. Next September 13, in Lima, the IOC will award the Summer Games in 2024 to Paris, then to Los Angeles the 2028 edition. The last pinch of suspense was blown on Wednesday July 26 by one of the major players in the game of three-cushion billiards played for several months by the IOC and the two rival candidacies. Eric Garcetti, the mayor of Los Angeles, broke the silence of the negotiations.

The elected Democrat took advantage of an event organized in Rancho Palos Verdes by BuzzFeed, an American internet media based in New York, to let loose. He did it in two steps, with just a handful of short sentences that won't fool anyone about the outcome of the battle. Regarding the possibility of Los Angeles hosting the Games in 2024, Eric Garcetti confided that “it was probably not going to happen. » Paris will therefore win the bet. Bingo.

Then the mayor of the Californian metropolis assured that the 2028 option would be much better for his city than a common consolation prize. According to him, the IOC's proposals to agree to come second would now be "financially so advantageous" that, he confides, "we would be stupid not to take 2028". Finally, Eric Garcetti concludes: “The candidacy is anything but lost. We won. »

All is said. Camped in its positions, Paris will have the Games in 2024. More open to negotiation, Los Angeles will follow four years later. The Californians have obtained, suggests Eric Garcetti, enough financial compensation to agree to be patient. The details are not known, but it is said that the IOC has been conciliatory, at the request of LA 2024, to relax its rules in terms of marketing.

The new agreement would notably authorize the future American organizing committee to deploy its campaign well ahead of the Games, even before the end of the 2024 edition. A first. Californians will be able to sell their 2028 Games logo and rings for a longer period of time, guaranteeing significantly higher marketing revenues.

Eric Garcetti clarified: an announcement relating to the 2028 Games will be made “as early as next week”. It could formalize the order of allocation. But the mayor of Los Angeles still has to present to his city council a new Olympic project, now focused on the summer of 2028, with significantly different figures and a budget.

A spokesperson for the town hall assured this on Wednesday LA Times: “Mayor Garcetti doesn’t think waiting four more years carries any risk. In 2024 or 2028, our project remains the same: use existing sites and control costs. »

Paris won. Los Angeles too. The IOC can rub its hands. Win-win-win.