Although several U.S. cities want to become the U.S. candidate for the 2016 Summer Olympic Games, the United States Olympic Committee (USOC) is not even sure if they will bid for the 2016 Summer Olympic Games.
USOC board chairman Peter Ueberroth said following Saturday’s USOC board meeting that “we discussed whether we should or not bid and we have not come to a conclusion whether we should or not bid”.
In Singapore where London won the 2012 Summer Olympic Games over New York, the U.S. candidate, the USOC appeared all but certain to enter the 2016 campaign, but Ueberroth promised a changed bid process for American cities the next time around.
Ueberroth says there were at least four areas that seemed to put U.S. cities at a disadvantage over IOC guidelines, including requiring a federal government to provide a financial guarantee to cover the costs of the Games. He said that was not an option in the United States where the Games are privately financed.
“The conditions have changed and continue to change from 1984 to 1996 to 2012. We compliment the IOC on its refining and changing the conditions but we’re examining all of those conditions”, said Ueberroth.
The USOC said that if it proceeded with a bid it would exercise tighter control on the process of selecting and guiding the American bid city. Ueberroth said the USOC would visit each interested city, meet the mayor and private sector leaders, and lay out the conditions for bidding and what it would entail for each. Only after that happens will cities be invited to continue.
A few cities that Ueberroth would not name, already have mailed packets to the USOC saying they wanted to enter the bid campaign. USOC chief executive Jim Scherr said that’s not how it should be done.
Ueberroth said “the feedback we’ve gotten is people got into the game without knowing what the rules were”.
Before deciding whether to put a city up for the 2016 Games USOC officials also want to be sure the international community understands that athletes from other countries will not have major problems getting into the United States. The issue has become more relevant since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
Some cities are already in the preliminary planning phase of bidding, but Ueberroth said that for any American city to announce a bid “would be premature” at this point.
