Members of the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) Executive Board Thursday reviewed a report on the four candidate cities vying to host the 2024 Olympic Games and have allowed all bids to progress to phase 2 of the process.
The approvals were expected after the IOC abolished the short-listing process that had been followed in previous bid campaigns.
At an Executive Board meeting in Lausanne, members had the option to “defer” any of the bids to a later campaign if there were concerns after receiving a report from Evaluation Commission Chair Frankie Fredericks. Reportedly no such concerns were voiced and Budapest, Los Angeles, Paris and Rome were given permission to proceed to the “Governance, Legal and Venue Funding” phase.
Fredericks and his team had spent four days poring over documents submitted by the bids covering topics regarding “Vision, Games Concept and Strategy” to generate the dashboard report for the Executive Board.
The four bids will be provided with constructive feedback later in June by video conference and will be permitted to “course correct” their plans, according to new bid rules announced at the outset of the campaign last year.
The phase 2 bid books are due into the IOC October 7 and an additional fee of (USD) $50,000 is due in July.
LA 2024 Chair Casey Wasserman said “LA 2024 is honored to be part of the IOC’s Candidature Process and to be progressing to the next stage equipped with all the support and insightful feedback we have received from the IOC and the Olympic Family over the last four months.”
2024 IOC Evaluation Commission Chair Frank Fredericks (IOC Photo)
Paris 2024 CEO Etienne Thobois said of the news “we welcome the IOC decision to put the bid forward to the next stage of the campaign process. I’d like to thank the IOC Executive Board for providing us with this opportunity and we look forward to receiving constructive feedback from the working group on this first stage as we prepare to develop stage two of our bid.”
Balázs Fürjes, Chairman of Budapest 2024 said ‘we are delighted to be invited to continue this journey with the IOC and with our fellow bidding cities, and we would like to thank Jaqueline Barrett and Frank Fredericks and their teams for all their efforts.”
“Our intention and focus remain firmly on the goal as we transition into this second phase: that is, to demonstrate to the world that Budapest is the right city at the right time, with both the vitality and maturity to host an unforgettable 2024 Games.’”
Phase 3, set to run from October to next February, will cover “Games Delivery, Experience and Venue Legacy.”
The IOC will elect a winner at it’s all-members session on September 13, 2017 in Lima, Peru.
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A senior producer and award-winning journalist covering Olympic bid business as founder of GamesBids.com as well as providing freelance support for print and Web publications around the world. Robert Livingstone is a member of the Olympic Journalists Association and the International Society of Olympic Historians.
