Reuters reports the United States Olympic Committee (USOC) has not decided whether it will bid for the 2024 Summer Olympic Games, but the committee said Tuesday it hopes to narrow down a list of cities within the next couple of months that are capable of winning a bid.
USOC chief executive Scott Blackmun said during a conference call, “it is a very informal process and our goal is to make a decision (on whether to proceed) by the end of the year and there haven’t been any formal deadlines or submissions. The dialogue is really around which cities do we think can put together a bid that is going to be a fantastic bid and which cities do we think have the opportunity to win”.
He added, “before we make a final decision we need to get into fairly detailed discussions with hopefully a smaller number of cities so our objective is to be in that position within the next couple of months”.
There are reports that the USOC is preparing to have a short list of two or three cities as early as next month and hopes to have settled on a candidate city by the end of 2014 or early next year.
If the USOC feels there is no bid capable of hosting the 2024 Games, it will reportedly focus on a 2026 Winter Olympic bid.
Blackmun said the USOC was not yet factoring in global politics into any decision on whether to go forward with a bid but it will eventually take a long, hard look at the political climate.
USOC chairman Larry Probst said, “we have heard plenty of encouragement from multiple IOC members about a U.S. bid so I think IOC membership is favourably inclined towards us at least considering going forward”.
The decision on a host city for the 2024 Summer Games will be made in 2017.