With just two weeks to go before the USOC cuts its 2012 Summer Games applicants list in half, San Francisco has received the most promising BidIndex score in an update released by GamesBids.com today. However, the lead is almost insignificant as the top three are separated by only 0.63 of a point – indicating a very tight race for two spots on the short-list.
There was very little movement on the index since the last update shortly after the evaluation visits were completed. Houston (BidIndex 68.11) posted the biggest gain of 1.58 on news of a possible injection of international marketing money from the local government – and more concerns from the IOC that the cost of the Games is getting out-of-hand. Houston has the highest percentage of pre-built venues.
San Francisco (BI 68.74) gained top spot on a minor gain of 0.53 and both Washington (BI 68.16) and New York (BI 65.06) declined marginally by 0.26. New York has fallen behind the leaders in the past few weeks due to concerns that the organization of the Games would be very costly and risky in New York.
BidIndex will be “halted” on Aug. 26 pending the Aug. 27 USOC announcement in Chicago disclosing the short-listed bids. It will re-open when the failed bids are delisted and the remaining bids are updated.
BidIndex is a model that when applied to an Olympic Bid, produces a number that can be used to rate a bid relative to others – and possibly gauge it’s ultimate success. The USOC will determine the winner November 2-3, 2002.
