体坛英语新闻：NBA and WNBA support LA's bid to host 2024 Olympic Games

LOS ANGELES, June 2 (Xinhua) -- The National Basketball Association and the Women' s National Basketball Association announced Friday their support for Los Angeles' bid for the 2024 Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games while the race between Los Angeles and Paris for the 2024 Olympic Games is entering the home stretch.

"The NBA is proud to support Los Angeles' bid to host the 2024 Olympic Games," said NBA Commissioner Adam Silver in a statement.

"We have had two NBA teams in Los Angeles for nearly 50 years, a WNBA team for 21 years and beginning next season two Development League teams. LA is truly an epicenter of global basketball," he said.

"Basketball has been an Olympic sport for more than 80 years, but it was in 1992 when the Dream Team inspired a new generation of fans and future NBA players. What better way to bring the Games into a new era and once again inspire the next generation of Olympians and Para-Olympians than showcasing them in a city that embodies creativity, entertainment and sports," he added.

"LA 2024's bid to host the Olympics represents what is truly great about sports - they bring everyone together and inspire young people to dream of what is possible. With its unrivaled mix of imagination and innovation, Los Angeles - the home of the defending WNBA champion Sparks - is the right city at the right time to bring the spirit of the Olympic Movement to a new generation and empower every little girl and boy around the world to dream big and believe that they belong," said WNBA President Lisa Borders.

LA 2024's bid leaders promised to draw on the NBA and WNBA's expertise in state-of-the-art sport presentation to grow Olympic and Paralympic sport in the US and worldwide.

With revenue expected to cross the 8 billion U.S. dollars threshold for the 2016-17 season, the NBA is a leader in the marketing, presentation and promotion of its live sporting events, the quality of which LA 2024 has pledged to produce at the 2024 Games. The WNBA is at the cutting edge of digital sport entertainment as the first women's professional sports league to stream their games through Twitter. LA 2024 will also use digital entertainment to creatively extend the reach of women's sports, especially to the world's youth.

"LA 2024 is honored to earn the support of two of the world's leading and visionary professional sport leagues. The NBA and WNBA's proven expertise in state-of-the-art sports presentation tailored for global audiences is the type of creativity that LA can bring to the 2024 Games," said LA 2024 Chairman Casey Wasserman.

Los Angeles is going to host 2018 NBA All-Star Weekend in a boost for it's 2024 Olympic bid.

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) Evaluation Commission finished its official visit to Los Angeles last month after touring all proposed venues for the 2024 Olympics Games. IOC will elect a winner September 13 in Lima, Peru.