Brisbane and the surrounding cities of southeast Queensland "could be the first region to benefit" from an IOC plan to "send its own experts into a city for a year to evaluate whether an Olympic Games bid is viable," according to Wayne Smith of THE AUSTRALIAN. The IOC's decision to award the 2024 and 2028 Games at the same summit later this year is "likely to force Brisbane to defer its potential 2028 bid by another four years." IOC VP John Coates said that the delay "would save the city millions in the bidding process," and not just because it would be spared the expense of running a '28 campaign to "position itself for its real attempt" in '32. Coates: "I have spoken in recent time with the Lord Mayor and he’s very happy and relaxed about 2032 being more appropriate, particularly in regard to the infrastructure of Brisbane and the other six cities." He said that among the cost-saving benefits the IOC intends to introduce before the 2032 Games are allocated in '25, is a scheme to do away with "reinventing the wheel" at the bidding stage. Coates said, "Under this new procedure, when we get an expression of interest from a city, the IOC sends its technical experts in, with the (int'l sports) federations, and helps formulate a bid using what you’ve got in the best possible way rather than spending a whole lot of money to hire these experts yourself. We then help a city over a period of a year and then we look at the cities and then we think these one, two or three cities can do this" (THE AUSTRALIAN, 7/13).
NEW SYSTEM: In Melbourne, Michael Pirrie wrote the announcement of a dual 2024-2028 Games host city "paves the way for historic and sweeping changes to the Olympic Games," impacting the IOC, financing, delivery, promotion and "possibly torch relay and ceremonies." As the number of potential bid cities "dwindles," the IOC wants to showcase, stabilize and "restore confidence in the delivery of Olympic Games" in two of the world's most iconic cities, Paris and L.A. (THE AGE, 7/12).
