LA Mayor Karen Bass and LA28 Chief Casey Wasserman on Plans for the ’28 Olympics

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass and LA28 Executive Director Casey Wasserman outlined their initial plans for the 2028 Summer Olympics during a panel discussion at CNBC’s Game Plan conference in Santa Monica on Tuesday.

Wasserman had an awkward few minutes toward the end of the session when moderator Andrew Ross Sorkin pressed him about a report published in July by the British tabloid Daily Mail accusing him of being a “serial defector” who had numerous alleged affairs at work. Wasserman dismissed the report and vowed not to step down from his unpaid LA28 position at the organization charged with running the three-week event.

“If the Daily Mail is qualified as a reporter, we’re all in trouble,” Wasserman said. “People can say whatever they want, without facts, without corroboration. … I’m going to do my job and do it to the end. That’s the commitment I made.”

Bass provided a major clarification on her plan to limit car use during the Games. Her earlier comments had been interpreted by some as if the city would limit car use. Bass said they hope to limit driving to the various Olympic venues. “Life goes on in the city,” she said. “We hope there will be no cars driving to the venues.”

Bass noted that the last time the Olympics were in Los Angeles, in 1984, agreements were made to reduce the amount of regular traffic on the road. She noted that 40 years ago, then-Mayor Tom Bradley made sure that truck deliveries were made at night instead of during the day.

“We can organize the region in such a way that there is less traffic and that it remains manageable,” she said.

(Pictured: Andrew Ross Sorkin and Karen Bass)

There’s more to come