OLYMPICS: $7 BILLION WINDFALL? STUDY PREDICTS HEFTY REVENUE, VISITOR COUNT.

Byline: KERRY CAVANAUGH

Staff Writer

Hosting the 2016 Olympics would lure an estimated 900,000 visitors and infuse the Los Angeles region with at least $7 billion in new revenue, according to a study released Friday.

The findings come just two weeks before the U.S. Olympic Committee is scheduled to announce whether it will tap Los Angeles or Chicago as the U.S. site to compete against international cities for the Summer Games.

The selection will cap a yearlong campaign in which Los Angeles business and civic leaders have wined and dined USOC members and rolled out a Hollywood-produced commercial touting the region's attributes.

Local officials are still trying to build support for the Olympics, promising youth sports programs, discount tickets and a boost for the regional economy that should last beyond the two-week event.

"Bringing the games to Los Angeles will mean Olympic gold for every community in our city," Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said Friday. "We all look forward to the Olympic Games' tremendous transformative impact on the lives and futures of all Angelenos."

The study, commissioned by the Southern California Committee for the Olympic Games, estimated that the event would attract about 877,060 visitors, generate $7.2 billion in revenue and provide 67,825 jobs.

The games would sell 6.23 million tickets -- of which 65 percent would likely be purchased by Southern California residents.

Direct spending on tickets, hotel rooms, food and souvenirs would generate about $3.6 billion. And the ripple effect of that spending would generate another $3.6 billion, according to Economic Research Associates, which has conducted economic impact analyses for other Olympic Games and major sporting events.

"This will touch every Angeleno," said Barry Sanders, chairman of the SCCOG. "It's something that will change the tourism profile of our great destination city for a long time after the games, not just in the games."

Economic Research Associates conducted its study for free at the request of the SCCOG. It also is the firm that has determined that the 1984 Olympics generated more than $3.3 billion for Los Angeles' economy.

"The estimates are preliminary, conservative and do not presume the huge multiplier ratios for induced economic impacts," said David A. Wilcox, author of the study and financial adviser to several Olympic Games.

Still, some economists have questioned whether such forecasts are accurate.

In an article for The Industrial Geographer, Indiana State University economics professor Jeffrey G. Owen found no studies that show significant economic improvements as the result of recent Olympic Games or other major sporting events.

After-the-games reviews "have consistently found no evidence of positive economic impacts from mega-sporting events even remotely approaching the estimates in economic impact studies," Owen wrote.

But Sanders said Los Angeles is different because the region already has 30 of the 36 venues needed for the games and does not need to embark on a massive construction campaign.

Los Angeles has hosted the Olympics twice before -- 1932 and 1984.

The committee also intends to fund the games with private donations.

"We do not want public money, we do not seek public money and we do not expect public money," Sanders told the City Council on Friday.

If Los Angeles is selected April 14, regional leaders will join with the U.S. Olympic Committee for a two-year campaign to win the bid.

Los Angeles would compete against Tokyo, Rio de Janeiro and Prague. The host city will be announced in 2009.

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Antonio Villaraigosa, left, and SCCOG chairman Barry Sanders address the media.

Nick Ut/Associated Press