The city of Los Angeles alerted Olympic officials that it wants to host the 2024 Summer Games.

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa sent a letter to the U.S. Olympic Committee informing them that business and community leaders have expressed their "enthusiastic interest" in hosting the 2024 Olympics and Paralympics, The Los Angeles Times reported.

"I am pleased to confirm our enthusiastic interest in bidding to host the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games," Villaraigosa wrote to U.S. Olympic Committee chief executive Scott Blackmun in a letter dated Monday.

Attached to the letter was the City Council resolution and a letter from the Southern California Committee for the Olympic Games, with the supportive signatures of some high profile figures such as, Barry Sanders, Janet Evans, Willie Banks, Robert Iger, Tom Hanks, Magic Johnson and Tim Leiweke.

"We are proud of our city's sports heritage and tradition," Villaraigosa wrote to the USOC. "And we stand ready to work with you to bring the Olympic Games back to the United States."

Los Angeles hosted the world's most popular sports event twice- in 1932 and 1984. Chicago beat Lost Angeles in the final round of the domestic bid process for the 2016 Summer Games but got eliminated in the first round by the International Olympic Committee, which chose Rio de Janeiro.

The Summer Olympics have not been held in the U.S. since 1996 in Atlanta and the U.S. committee did not even apply for the 2020 Games after Chicago was overlooked for 2016.

A spokesperson for Mayor Rahm Emanuel said last month Chicago was not interested in bidding again. Although the USOC has yet to confirm a bid for 2024, it sent letters to the mayors of 35 large cities last month asking for expressions of interest.

This is just the first step of a long process involving several countries who will be interested in hosting the games, but the host for the 2024 Olympics will not be chosen until 2017.

"We have a population base that is very international," David Simon, president of the L.A. Sports Council, said. "We're the entertainment capital of the world and we have a great climate."