The International Olympic Committee (IOC) Thursday cleared the way for the remaining three bids in the race to host the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games to cross the finish line next September.
After the IOC Executive Committee reviewed evaluation dashboards based on two separate submissions by each city in February and October this year, the top members agreed that Budapest, Los Angeles and Paris can now move forward to the next and final phase of the bid. Left off the list was Rome after the Italian capital was forced to suspend its campaign in November when support from the Mayor and the municipal council was lost.
Evaluation Commission Chair Frank Fredericks provided an update that focused on governance, legal and venue funding to the Executive Board during the group’s meeting in Lausanne this week.
“No significant issues were flagged at this stage that would merit not supporting the advancement of a particular city to the next stage,” an IOC statement said Thursday.
The other starter that will not to finish the 2024 race is Hamburg, the German city having to withdraw after narrowly losing a referendum in 2015.
IOC President Thomas Bach said that the three cities remaining in the race were enticed to bid because of the benefits of Olympic Agenda 2020, a set of reforms launched in 2014 that emphasize sustainability and cost-saving measures while organizing the Games.
He said Thursday “without the Olympic Agenda 2020 we would have in effect no candidate for 2024.”
The three cities qualifying for the final stage will now be required to pay an installment fee of USD $150,000 in January and submit a third set of documents outlining games delivery, experience and venue legacy by February 3. The IOC Evaluation Commission will then visit the cities for site inspections in April and May and then the bid committees will make critical presentations to stakeholders in July.
“Bidding for the Olympic Games is a major responsibility and commitment, and we are humbled and honoured, but also very excited as a city and a country, that Budapest has been selected by the IOC to continue with Paris and Los Angeles to the final stage of the 2024 bid process,” Budapest 2024 bid Chief Balázs Fürjes said about the news.
“Budapest can become a template for the IOC to show how the Olympic Games can be staged in mid-sized cities around the world, providing a new generation of more affordable and lower-risk host city locations, where the Olympic Games can be staged in culturally, architecturally and environmentally beautiful and exciting settings in cities on the rise as alternatives to mega-cities and large capitals.
“This will help to take the Olympic Games to more cities and countries around the world, and ensure the Games remain the most sought after, most popular and most accessible sporting event worldwide.”
LA 2024 Chair Casey Wasserman said “on behalf of LA 2024, we are honored to proceed to the next stage of the IOC’s Candidature Process and thank the IOC for their continued support and valuable feedback.”
“The IOC’s collaborative process as outlined by the visionary Olympic Agenda 2020 reforms has proved greatly beneficial to our committee as we create LA 2024’s low-risk, innovative and sustainable new Games for a new era.”
The IOC will elect its 2024 host city at an all-members session to be held September 2017 in Lima, Peru.
