Paris Games reboot Olympic brand, raising bar for LA

Those tasked with following Paris seem impressed.

"They have done a spectacular job," Los Angeles 2028 CEO Casey Wasserman told Reuters. "The experience in the venues, which is what this is all about for the athletes and the fans, is world-class."

He said Los Angeles would not try to match Paris in style and substance but in "authenticity and execution", a view echoed by IOC President Thomas Bach.

"If LA would like to copy the Eiffel Tower, it would be a recipe for disaster," Bach said. "Each Olympic Games has to be authentic, has to be creative, has to show the culture of the host country."

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass acknowledged Paris had set a high bar, and that LA's homelessness problems would be a challenge to overcome. But the City of Angels has one world class asset that nobody else can claim: "We do have Hollywood, so I expect a lot of magical opportunities," she told Reuters.

Broadcasters and sponsors, who were jittery after two COVID-blighted Games, are also thrilled.

NBCUniversal, which has the largest Olympic media deal in the world after paying US$7.65 billion in 2014 to extend its rights through 2032, scored its highest US audience since 2012 and enjoyed record ad sales, with average total viewership for the first 14 days up 77 per cent from Tokyo.

The number of viewers on Warner Bros Discovery streaming platforms for the first two days of Paris exceeded the entire Tokyo Olympics, the company said.

The Games were Olympic sponsor Airbnb's biggest-ever event in terms of guests accommodated in and around Paris, Emmanuel Marill, Airbnb's regional director for EMEA, told Reuters.

"There is a kind of magic that happened," he said.

Dory Ellis Garfinkle, chief marketing officer at brand strategy firm Siegel+Gale,