There is an 80% chance that the Olympics "will return to Europe in nine years’ time after the IOC named five candidate cities for the 2024 Games," according to Josh Burrows of the LONDON TIMES.
Budapest, Hamburg, Paris, Rome and L.A. "were announced" by IOC President Thomas Bach as five “outstanding cities” that will enter a bidding process that ends in '17. Bach: "What we see are five really highly qualified candidate cities." Having five countries fighting over the rights to host the Olympics "is a relief for the IOC, which recently awarded the 2022 Winter Olympics to snowless Beijing after several European cities, notably Oslo, pulled out of the bidding process for financial and political reasons" (LONDON TIMES, 9/16). The AP's Stephen Wilson reported the IOC "also released the host city contract and other documents setting out the two-year bid process, which has been changed to eliminate the cut-down phase, and ensure that all candidates go to the final vote in Lima, Peru," in Sept. '17. Bach said that all five bid cities for '24 fully embraced his "Olympic Agenda 2020" reform program, which seeks "to reduce bidding and hosting costs." He said, "Sustainability and legacy are the cornerstones of each candidature." The IOC will contribute $1.7B in cash and services "to the organizing committee of whichever city is chosen as host." Bach expressed confidence the city "will produce a surplus on its operating budget, which does not cover long-term infrastructure costs" (AP, 9/16). The BBC reported with nearly two years until the vote in Lima "it is early days, but already people are talking about Paris and Los Angeles as the front-runners."
Both cities "have twice hosted the Games, Paris most recently in 1924." The 2024 Olympics "will mark its 100th centenary, which may chime with IOC members." Also in the French capital's favor "is it has plenty of experience in staging major sports events." The IOC "made no secret of its desire for an American bid this time around." A U.S. city last hosted the Summer Games in '96 and, with commercial differences between U.S. Olympic leaders and the IOC defused, "there is no shortage of support for the showpiece to make a return" (BBC, 9/16).
SEEKING SUPPORT: REUTERS' Brian Homewood reported Bach said that the IOC "will conduct its own research to judge public support for hosting the 2024 Summer Games in each of the five bidding cities." Bach: "The IOC wants to send the athletes only in cities where they are welcome, this is why public support for a bid is so important. To ensure the measurement of this public support, the IOC is doing its own confidential polls at the same time in all five candidate cities, so that we get an objective result which we then can compare" (REUTERS, 9/16).
DOUBLE DUTY: REUTERS' Karolos Grohmann reported Bach said that Germany "would have no problems hosting both the 2024 European football championships as well as the summer Olympics in the same year, given the country's sports infrastructure and organisational skills." Hamburg is bidding for the 2024 Olympics while the German FA (DFB) "is hoping to land the Euro in the same year, traditionally staged just a few weeks before the summer Games." Bach:
"I think this can be possible because they are time-wise a couple of weeks apart from each other so they do not influence each other in this respect. I also think that nobody has real doubt about the Germans' organizational skills" (REUTERS, 9/16).
