Reading through the Olympic host contract — the document that cities must sign if they want the Games — it might be easy to overlook Basic Principle No. 4.
The stipulation, which covers "joint and several obligations," takes up only two paragraphs amid 80 or so pages.
But as Los Angeles moves closer to bidding for the 2024 Summer Olympics, those few hundred words could become a very big deal.
They state that, even though the Games would be organized and paid for by a specialized private committee, the city could be held responsible for any resulting debt.