LOS ANGELES (AP) -Unlike the gritty comeback that gave the Los Angeles Lakers an NBA title against their rival Boston Celtics, this year’s victory parade will have no rallies.
A compact championship parade – scaled back to rein in costs – is scheduled to stream through the streets of downtown Monday, minus the flashy rallies and side celebrations of past years.
This year’s bash will begin at Staples Center and make its way down Figueroa Street to the edge of the University of Southern California campus. Much of downtown will be shut down for the event, and city officials are urging fans to use public transportation.
Lakers officials expect between 500,000 and 2 million fans to line the two-mile route as the team celebrates its second straight NBA title and 16th overall, earned with a Game 7 victory over Boston on Thursday.
rate with the team – players are expected to address the crowd from a sound-equipped flatbed float instead of making speeches at large crowd-drawing rallies, officials said.
The more modest celebration will cost between $1.5 to $2 million – a tab the world champions plan to pay – to cover police overtime and other city services, team spokesman John Black said.
The city had to reach out to private donors to fund the 2009 celebration so that taxpayers wouldn’t have to foot the $1 million bill as Los Angeles faced a more than $500 million budget gap.
An enormous rally at the end of last year’s parade at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum drew about 95,000 people.
The Staples Center and Nokia Plaza, which were also once sites of parade-day revelry, will be locked and bars and restaurants will be closed during the parade Monday, AEG officials said.
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