LA City Council unanimously approves 2024 Olympic Games host contract

DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- The Los Angeles City Council unanimously approved Wednesday the contract it would sign if Los Angeles lands the 2024 Summer Olympics.

Last week, the City Council unanimously approved the bid with a preliminary vote. Wednesday's final vote cements the city's support.

MORE: LA 2024 releases renderings for 3 Olympic venues

There is a lot of taxpayer money on the line. LA 2024 put the price tag at more than $5 billion. That cost is considerably lower than the 2012 London Games, which ended up costing $15 billion, as well as the 2014 Olympics in Russia, where cost overruns topped $20 billion.

LA 2024 officials say 90 percent of the needed venues already exist in L.A., and any other costs will be covered by private funding.

During the meeting, Olympic athletes such as Apolo Ohno spoke out in support of bringing the Olympics to the city.

Mayor Eric Garcetti said Los Angeles is the only city that makes financial sense to host the Olympics.

"L.A. loves the Olympics and the Olympics have always loved L.A.," he said.

He added that most of the cost overruns come from having to build venues, or an Olympic village, to accommodate the games. But most of those venues already exist in L.A.

MORE: Hosting 2024 Olympics could boost LA's economic output by $11.2B, study says

However, if there are cost overruns, L.A. taxpayers and the state of California could be held responsible for payment.

A University of Oxford study called the Olympics "one of the most costly and financially most risky types of mega-projects that exists."

The vote came ahead of a Feb. 3 deadline, when the LA 2024 Olympic Bid Committee must turn over its final set of documents to the International Olympic Committee.

The committee is set to announce the next host location in September.

City News Service contributed to this report.