Up to $800 million in Olympic contracts could be set aside for L.A. businesses

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Set us as preferred Top Los Angeles officials have reached what they are calling an unprecedented preliminary agreement to help businesses based within the city limits get a meaningful share of the estimated $4 billion in contracts needed to stage the 2028 Summer Olympics.The deal offers the promise of substantial financial gains for the host city of the Olympics, without forcing event organizers to spend more than they believe is prudent, according to people familiar with the negotiations at City Hall and at LA28, the private nonprofit group organizing the Games.The deal must still be given final approval by LA28, the City Council and mayor.

The people involved spoke on condition of anonymity to describe delicate negotiations nearing completion.The linchpin of the deal is a commitment by LA28 to spend between 5% and 20% of its overall contracting budget on businesses headquartered in the city of Los Angeles, according to two high-ranking city officials.LA28 leaders previously estimated their spending with outside firms would total about $4 billion.Five percent of that would be $200 million, and 20% would be $800 million, which provides the range of what L.A.-based companies would stand to pick up as Los Angeles hosts its third Olympiad.Both sides said the final deal will set a specific dollar target for LA28 spending with L.A.-based businesses, though they declined to say at this time what that amount will be.If the deal is approved later this month as expected, the parties said it would make Los Angeles the first Olympic city to win such spending pledges.

Previous organizing committees agreed to target spending within national borders, not local ones, they said.The pact would settle one of the most protracted and at times bitter disagreements between city and Olympic leaders since they agreed more than a decade ago to bring...