Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti said Monday he would like another chance at becoming the U.S. Olympic Committee‘s bidder to host the 2024 Summer Olympics, following the announcement that Boston has been dropped as the bid city.
While his office has not spoken to members the USOC, “I continue to believe that Los Angeles is the ideal Olympic city and we have always supported the USOC in their effort to return the Games to the United States,” Garcetti said.
“I would be happy to engage in discussions with the USOC about how to present the strongest and most fiscally responsible bid on behalf of our city and nation,” he said.
Garcetti’s statements followed news that Boston’s bid to host the 2024 Summer Olympics was being halted, in light of waning support and the unwillingness of Boston Mayor Marty Walsh to sign the host city contract. Walsh said he would not sign a contract “that puts one dollar of taxpayer money on the line for one penny of overruns on the Olympics.”
Before the USOC in January chose Boston as the United States’ bid city, Los Angeles was one of four finalists, among San Francisco and Washington, D.C.
The finalists were selected after a 16-month process that began with the USOC reaching out to about 35 U.S. cities to gauge interest in a bid.
It was not immediately clear whether the USOC will offer choose another city as a possible bidder. All potential bids for the 2024 Summer Olympics must be submitted by Sept. 15 to the International Olympic Committee, which will select the host city for both the 2024 Summer Olympic and Paralympic Games in 2017.
USOC CEO Scott Blackmun said the committee “would very much like to see an American city host the Olympic and Paralympic Games in 2024.”
“We will immediately begin to explore whether we can do so on a basis consistent with our guiding principles, to which we remain firmly committed,” Blackmun says. “We understand the reality of the timeline that is before us. We will brief the media on our progress towards a decision later in August, and we will not have any public statements on the subject of a possible bid until
then.”
Potential foreign bidders include Rome; Nairobi, Kenya; Casablanca, Morocco; Johannesburg and Durban, South Africa; Doha, Qatar; Melbourne, Australia; Paris; Hamburg, Germany; and St. Petersburg, Russia.
The United States did not make a bid to host the 2020 Summer Olympics, which were awarded to Tokyo in 2013. Los Angeles sought to be the U.S. candidate to host the 2016 Games but was beaten by Chicago, whose bid was ultimately rejected by the International Olympic Committee in favor of Rio de Janeiro.
Los Angeles was looking to join London as the only cities to host the Summer Olympics three times. Los Angeles was the site of the 1932 and 1984 Games.
The Summer Olympics were last held in the United States in 1996, when Atlanta was the site.
— City News Service