Rome Mayor Virginia Raggi today "rejected the city's bid for the 2024 Olympics," leaving L.A., Paris and Budapest as the only remaining candidates for the event, according to Andrew Dampf of the AP. The IOC will pick the host city next September. Raggi said that it would be "financially 'irresponsible' to pursue the bid any further given the city is barely able to get its trash picked up." She cited "debts that previous Olympic host cities have incurred" among the reasons for the move, which still formally needs to be "approved by the city assembly." Dampf notes Raggi, who was elected in June, "campaigned with the message that an Olympic bid was unsustainable for a city struggling to emerge from years of corruption and poor public services." This marks the "second withdrawal in four years" for Rome; former Italy premier Mario Monti in '12 "stopped the city's plans to bid for the 2020 Olympics because of financial problems" (AP, 9/21). In L.A., David Wharton notes Rome had been "considered something of a long shot -- along with Budapest -- from the very start" of the formal bidding process. Paris has "long been seen as Los Angeles' strongest competitor" (LATIMES.com, 9/21).
TOO EXPENSIVE FOR ITS OWN GOOD? TSN's Rick Westhead wrote on Twitter, "Another city follows lead of Toronto & others, saying no to financial demands of hosting Olympics." Univ. of Miami professor Windy Dees wrote, "More cities are declining to host #Olympics: Boston, Hamberg, and now Rome say it's too costly and cities have bigger priority." The N.Y. Times' Andrew Das: "Wouldn't surprise me if 2024 Olympics and 2026 World Cup return to the loving arms of US money and existing infrastructure. Ka-ching." The Wall Street Journal's Sara Germano wrote, "roses are red no Olympics for Rome guess they don't want to build a velodrome."
