GamesBids.com presents the fourth annual Top Ten list of Olympic Bid Stories for 2011. These stories impacted the course of Olympic bids, or the Olympic bid process, and formed interesting plotlines for the year. We’ll run them down from 10th to 1st during the holiday season.
Top Olympic Bid Stories of 2011: #6 USA refuses to bid for 2020 Games without revenue-sharing agreement
In 2020 it will have been 24 years since the Summer Olympics were held in the United States and North America – that’s six Olympiads away from the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) largest revenue centre. There are few who would argue that it is time for the Games to return to America.
But ironically it is revenue, or more specifically a revenue-sharing agreement that is keeping the Games away. USOC CEO Scot Blackmum maintains that there will be no Games bid until a deal is sealed.
So both the IOC and USOC worked quickly to come to terms in time to properly prepare a bid before the 2020 deadline. As the summer progressed, a bid seemed closer and more distant at the same time, but many held up hope.
When the USOC finally admitted that it would be too late to bid, IOC President Jacques Rogge had his regrets and expressed his disappointment.
The next bidding target for the USOC may be the 2022 Winter Games – if a revenue-sharing deal is struck before the 2013 deadline. U.S. cities are already lined up.
Watch for top 10 story #5 coming soon on GamesBids.com.
