VICA Speaker Says Valley Could Host Olympic Events

Three Olympic events will be held in the San Fernando Valley if Los Angeles hosts the 2024 Olympics, the chief of the game-luring committee said Friday. Equestrian and shooting contests would be held at Sepulveda Dam, and canoe and kayak slaloms would be in nearby Lake Balboa, said Gene Sykes, who is chief executive of the Los Angeles 2024 Candidature Committee. That’s different from the 1984 Olympics, he said, when no games were held in the Valley. Sykes, who is on leave from the Goldman Sachs office in Los Angeles to run the Olympic-seeking committee, was the luncheon speaker Friday at the Valley Industry and Commerce Association’s annual Business Forecast Conference, a half-day summit that focuses on economic issues and topics of interest to the business community. He said Los Angeles can make a strong bid for the games not only because it made a rare profit from the 1984 Olympics but because no major facilities would need to be built. What’s more, the Los Angeles Rams stadium in Inglewood would be completed well before the games and could play a big role. “It means the IOC (International Olympic Committee) can reduce its risk by choosing L.A.,” Sykes said. Sykes, who was born in the Valley, added that 87 percent of Valley residents support the Olympic bid, according to a survey by Loyola Marymount University. The business conference, held at the Hilton Los Angeles Universal City hotel, attracted more than 400 leaders from the business, academic and nonprofit worlds. After an overview of the local economy at breakfast, attendees attended panel discussions on topics including the upcoming elections, housing development, how to court millennials and nuisance lawsuits.