L.A.’s 2024 Olympics bid is getting a boost from the man behind the Mouse.
Disney CEO Bob Iger has joined the committee that is trying to bring the Summer Games back to Los Angeles. Iger will serve on the committee’s board of directors, along with basketball great Magic Johnson, Paralympian Candace Cable, trade union leader Maria Elena Durazo, and gold medalist swimmer Janet Evans, per the Associated Press.
The 2016 Summer Olympics are preparing to kick off in Rio de Janeiro on Aug. 5. However, there have been questions about the security of the games due to the city’s deteriorating economy and concerns over the Zika virus.
Back in September, the Los Angeles City Council cleared the way with a 15-0 vote allowing the U.S. Olympic Committee to name L.A. as its official candidate for the 2024 Games, and Mayor Eric Garcetti is using the city’s Hollywood ties to tout the plan.
“We’ll roll out the red carpet, put on a show only L.A. can do for the best athletes in the world,” Garcetti said after the city council vote.
The mayor went on to cite L.A.’s creativity, diversity and Hollywood’s inherent storytelling capabilities as reasons for the International Olympic Committee to choose Southern California to host the Games.
The IOC will pick the 2024 Olympics host city in 2017. Its current choices already include Rome, Paris, Hamburg and Budapest.
Los Angeles previously hosted the Games in 1932 and 1984. In 2015, L.A. hosted the Special Olympics World Summer Games, welcoming over 6,500 athletes.