LOS ANGELES – The Los Angeles City Council has signed off on a Memorandum of Understanding with the Los Angeles bid committee for the 2024 Olympic Games, and the two sides will now focus on finding a location and funding for an Olympic Village.

Under the MOU approved Friday, the city would have the right to review and approve the agreement between the host city and the International Olympic Committee and the Games’ marketing program agreement.

The MOU also prohibits LA 2024 from committing the city to any financial agreements without the approval of the City Council. It also allows the city to hire an academic institution or nationally renown accounting firm to review the host city agreement prior to it being submitted to the IOC.

Sharon M. Tao, the city’s chief legislative analyst, told a City Council ad hoc committee on the Olympic bid Friday that the agreement makes the city an equal partner with the bid committee.

“I think it was very important, not just for us as the council but for the city,” City Council president Herb J. Wesson said. “ … The folks from 2024 were unbelievably cooperative and I think we have an MOU that works for all.”

Friday’s approval follows five months of negotiations between the city and the privately funded bid committee headed by sports and entertainment entrepreneur Casey Wasserman.

“Substantively we can’t prepare a great bid without the city,” said LA 2024 general counsel Brian Nelson.

Locating and funding an Olympic Village for what would be Los Angeles’ third Olympic Games will be the primary focus of a City Council meeting early next month ahead of the International Olympic Committee’s Feb. 17 deadline for bid cities to submit so-called Stage I documents.

The Village and security for the Games have been council members’ biggest concerns with the Los Angeles bid. The majority of the $4 billion price tag for the Games’ security is expected to be picked up by the federal government as National Special Security Event funding, as was the case with the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City.

How the Village is funded – and selected – is another matter.

“If we can figure out how to properly deal with the Village in a financial fashion that is to our advantage then we’re like 90 percent of the way there,” Wesson said. “That is the biggest hiccup or the biggest speed bump in this whole process. So if that can be worked out then I anticipate the other things are much easier.”

A bid book that Los Angeles committee officials submitted to the USOC in December 2014 outlined an Olympic Village that would house 16,500 athletes on 125 riverfront acres northeast of the downtown core. According to the Los Angeles 2024 budget, the organizing committee would spend $75 million on the Village, with another $925 million coming from private sources. After the Games the Village would be turned into a mix of market and affordable housing, according to bid documents.

“I think everything begins with a spirited conversation. So we need to know, just don’t give us names of this place, that place – what’s real, what could be in play, what is the cost and I mean really drill that down so we get a feel and do we have any other options that we can use,” Wesson said. “Are there areas that we could maybe do something temporary? I don’t know, but it’s more than just making sounds bites and things. We need to really have those options before us and then we in an intelligent way with the Mayor’s office and with LA 2024 will deal with it.”

LA 2024 has narrowed its list of potential Village sites from two dozen to approximately five.

“At this point there have been a variety of sites mentioned,” Wesson said. “But I think at the next meeting, that’s when you’ll really put some meat on the skeleton and that’s when we’ll find out what’s serious and what’s not serious.”

LA 2024 chief executive Gene Sykes said in December that the Los Angeles Transportation Center, owned by Union Pacific Railroad, remains on the LA 2024 short list of potential Olympic Village sites. LA 2024 documents have projected the Olympic Village costing $1 billion, but city officials have told the council the project’s price tag could reach $2 billion.

“We’ve heard too many times from individuals associated with the railroad that they don’t want to do it,” Wesson said. “We’ve also heard the cost is astronomical and so in my mind I don’t know how real that is. I want real locations and I want real costs and I think that’s the time we have the kind of conversation we need to have.”

The Los Angeles Transporation Center “is a key component of our national network,” Union Pacific Chief Executive Officer John Koraleski wrote in an Oct. 31, 2014, letter to Wasserman and Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti. “Our respective teams have also reviewed the possibility of a shared-use facility, but for a number of reasons, any joint use is not compatible. As was previously indicated, Union Pacific has no plans to relocate or close this facility and is in fact planning a major modernization.

“However, Union Pacific has a long history of working cooperatively with the City of Los Angeles on a wide variety of matters. It is possible that a sale or exchange agreement could be reached, but only if, on terms acceptable to Union Pacific management in its sole discretion. To this end, the City would acquire, in cooperation with Union Pacific, a suitable replacement facility with all necessary permits and approvals for Union Pacific’s exclusive use as a rail yard comparable to LATC in terms of capacity, function, location, and compatibility with the Union Pacific’s system and customer needs.”

Contact the writer: sreid@ocregister.com