Philadelphia interested in bidding on 2024 Olympics

PanARMENIAN.Net - Mayor Nutter told the U. S. Olympic Committee Monday, April 22 that the Philadelphia region is interested in bidding on the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games, Philly.com reported.

Responding to a February 19 letter sent by the national Olympic organization to 35 cities in the United States, Nutter said he was “honored to confirm our whole-hearted commitment and interest in working with the USOC to bid on the 2024 Games.”

Spokesman Mark McDonald said the city’s expression of interest was “just an incremental development” in the long process of choosing the 2024 Olympic venue. The U.S. Olympic committee will first decide on several U. S. finalists, then pick a single candidate to compete for the backing of the international Olympic organization.

When it sent out the first invitations in February, the USOC said the event would require a budget of more than $3 billion, not including construction costs. The invitations went to the 25 biggest U. S. cities, plus 10 more that had expressed Olympic interest in the past.

Philadelphia was among five cities that made presentations to the USOC in 2006 regarding the 2016 games, but Philadelphia did not make the cut to three finalists. The games eventually were awarded to Rio de Janeiro.

The U.S. committee decided not to submit a bid for the 2020 games. The three finalists are Istanbul, Tokyo and Madrid, with the International Olympic Committee expected to make a final decision in September at a meeting in Buenos Aires.

The last Summer Olympics in the United States were the Atlanta Games in 1996. The Winter Olympics were held at Salt Lake City in 2002.