The International Olympic Committee (IOC) opened a new “invitation phase” Thursday for potential 2024 bid cities ahead of the September 15 deadline for the formal submission of bids.
So far Rome, Germany and Boston are the only declared candidates. Germany said it will submit a bid from either Berlin or Hamburg.
IOC executive director Christophe Dubi said there could be a “decent but limited” number of responses from cities already bidding or planning to bid, or “it could be an overwhelming wave of questions from NOCs saying ‘we’d be really interested to get a view on what it means to organize the Games'”.
The invitation phase is to give cities a clearer idea on the Games and give them the chance to see how they may or may not fit into their urban development, social and economic plans.
Dubi said, “with the IOC open to explain what can be an impressive and somewhat overwhelming endeavour, it will be interesting for many National Olympic Committees”.
Reuters reports that several more cities, including Istanbul, Doha, Budapest and Paris are seen as likely contenders.
“How many we will have in the end is a really good question. We could have two scenarios. Only cities that have a project or a very strong idea, so a decent or limited number. Or it could be overwhelming with many NOCs having questions”, said Dubi. “Whether it will be six, seven or 10 or 25 interested is very hard to tell (at this time).”
The IOC will be informing all national Olympic Committees in a letter on Thursday