Leaders of the Paris bid for the 2024 Olympics secured a €2M ($2.2M) sponsorship deal Thursday "with the operator of France's national lottery," according to Samuel Petrequin of the AP.
Francaise des Jeux "became the first company to support the bid," which is competing with Budapest, Rome and L.A. for the games. The IOC "will choose the host city" in Sept. '17.
Paris bid co-President Bernard Lapasset said that "the agreement with the lottery operator is the first of a series of deals to be announced in the coming months." The cost of the bid has been estimated at about €60M ($65M), "with the major part of the budget to be raised through private funding." If Paris is awarded the Olympics, the infrastructure budget for hosting the games is expected to reach €3B ($4.5B), with operational costs of €3.2B ($4.8B). FDJ CEO Stephane Pallez said that "a lottery scratch card game promoting the bid will be launched" in '17 and could help fund the candidacy.
She said, "If it works well, we will donate part of the game's income to the bid. It's not included in the 2 million and could help us make more than 2 million" (AP, 1/21).
