The Rio Olympics won’t just be a spectacle of athletic competition. Behind the scenes, the four cities vying to host the 2024 Games will work aggressively in Rio to woo International Olympic Committee voters.
For the first time, all four bid committees and the entire IOC will be in the same place together. Even though the final vote will still be 13 months away, the pressure is on to make good use of the rare opportunity.
“It’s an incredibly significant event in our planning process,” said LA 2024 Chief Bid Officer Danny Koblin. “And it’s one of the only times — there will be a few others — between now and September 2017 when pretty much all of the membership will be there.”
But don’t expect audacious parties or splashy media. Eager to keep the focus on athletes and Rio itself, the IOC prohibits almost all explicit campaigning. Materials cannot be distributed outside of the bidding country’s hospitality house, and bid cities can conduct only a single official media availability.
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Top LA 2024 bid officials, including Mayor Eric Garcetti (center), Casey Wasserman (second from left) and Janet Evans, will be working the rooms at the Rio Games.
Photo by: GETTY IMAGES
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Nevertheless, top bid officials, including Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, Wasserman Chairman Casey Wasserman and LA 2024 Vice Chair Janet Evans and CEO Gene Sykes, will be working the rooms every chance they get during the IOC meetings before the opening ceremony, at receptions and during sporting events.
Smart campaigns, experts say, will use a soft touch and consider their work more about making friends than making a sale. Formal, specific proposals will come in 2017. About half the IOC voters attended a meeting of the Association of National Olympic Committees last year in Washington, but many voters and other stakeholders are still learning the identities and vision of the bids.
Los Angeles is sending its entire staff, more than 20 people, and Rome and Paris both confirmed that their senior bid leaders will attend. Budapest did not reply to a message seeking comment.
“The travel costs are considerable, but it’s a great investment for our bid,” said LA 2024 spokesman Jeff Millman. Los Angeles’ total budget is between $40 million and $55 million.
The official bid centerpieces will be each bid’s physical display, limited by rule to 20 square meters inside the country’s Olympic hospitality house. The bid groups declined to discuss their specific plans.
The limitations are designed to prevent a financial arms race at a time when many Olympic bids encounter local political resistance, said former IOC marketing chief Michael Payne. Elaborate receptions used to be commonplace, he said, but ultimately accomplished little.
“The IOC is between a rock and a hard place here,” Payne said. “On one hand, they want to continue to try to control the cost of bidding so you don’t have stories of disillusioned bidders down the road saying, ‘I spent X million, and look where it got me,’ countered with you don’t want a set of rules that end up suffocating the promotional process. There’s clear value in that.”
Amid the Games, the IOC will operate a series of 20 tours and roundtable meetings for the bids, with up to 12 people from each bid invited. “We mustn’t forget that we will be in Rio to learn and be inspired by the local organizing committee,” said Rome 2024 spokeswoman Maria Ludovica Mercuri.
Rome declined to disclose its campaign strategy and tactics. “Our leaders will attend the events, supporting the Italian team, and will be happy and honored to have a word with the IOC members,” Mercuri said.
Paris 2024 CEO Etienne Thobois also declined to discuss plans in detail but wrote in an email the bid “looks forward to discussing our unique vision and learning from the Games experience in Rio.”
Los Angeles will use the Games to promote its bid to the American public, Koblin said. Its social media marketing staff will try to show Los Angelenos what the Olympics would bring to the city by showing Rio in a positive light.
After Rio, the next major in-person opportunity won’t be until the ANOC General Assembly in November, followed by official briefings to the IOC in July 2017. Member visits in the meantime are prohibited by rules passed after the Salt Lake City bidding scandal.
“The new process makes it so you have to be even more effective in the time you have,” said Angela Ruggiero, a member of the IOC and LA 2024’s chief strategy officer. “With L.A. being an ocean away from the majority of voters, it’s even more important.”
