Some of America’s biggest stars don’t need to worry about compromises in the Olympic Village.
Team USA’s men’s and women’s basketball rosters are staying in the four-star Paris Marriott Opera Hotel, according to the Daily Mail.
Forbes projected that it costs a total of $15 million to lodge the American basketball players in the hotel, plus accommodate players’ families, security and NBA officials who traveled to the Games.
All told, Team USA basketball sanctioned some 800 rooms in the hotel, which may even allow for other American athletes to stay there instead of the more austere Village.
While the fact that LeBron James, Steph Curry, Breanna Stewart and others aren’t staying with fellow competitors may fly under the radar, the principle is actually nothing new.
Team USA basketball has followed the same practice of booking an entire hotel in the Olympic city every Summer Games since 1992, per reports.
Collectively, the logistical process is highly methodical.
“You want to get it, if not done, at least some kind of memorandum of understanding or something before the previous Games ends,” a former director of the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee told Forbes. “What’s going to happen as soon as Paris is over, everybody is going to start looking at L.A. [for 2028].”
Forbes added that other benefits for American hardwood icons include enjoying a “high-performance training center” and “coach-class airfare,” each of which significantly elevated costs of bringing both star-studded teams to Paris relative to other Team USA rosters.
Meanwhile, athletes in the Olympic village — including greats and gold medalists in their own right — have shared gripes with the Village, from poor food quality and selection to cardboard beds to even limited space for taking time to oneself.
Thus far, Team USA’s high-profile investments have paid dividends.
The men’s basketball team has gone an unblemished 3-0 in group play, downing Serbia, South Sudan and Puerto Rico behind the efforts of James, Curry, Anthony Edwards, Anthony Davis and more.
The squad — which seeks its fifth straight gold medal — will battle Brazil in the quarterfinals Tuesday afternoon.
On the other side, the American women have proliferated their remarkable Olympic winning streak, which now spans 58 games.
Diana Taurasi, Stewart, A’ja Wilson and others helped beat Japan, Belgium and Germany, with Nigeria next up on Wednesday afternoon in the quarterfinals.