I’ve been spending a lot of time preparing for football season, so forgive me for using a football analogy with this one.
The United States Olympic Committee nearly got picked off when throwing to Boston for a bid with the 2024 Olympics. Instead, the USOC decided to throw the ball out of bounds but now it’s fourth down. Looking at the playbook, looks like the quarterback is gonna throw to Los Angeles in hopes the city can deliver a touchdown.
I’ll stop there making comparisons to a sport that’s not even in the Olympic program but hopefully you get it. On Wednesday, the USOC confirmed that its hoping to partner with Los Angeles for a successful 2024 Olympic bid.
Nothing’s official yet, but with the September 15th deadline looming, the United States needed to focus on one American city and try to turn a 180 after the debacle (not to mention time wasted) with salvaging a Boston bid.
Los Angeles seems like a more logical choice, with many of the venues already in place. It’s like an episode of HGTV’s “Flip or Flop”. The USOC wants to take an old home and renovate it, with the intentions of purely making cosmetic changes. The city’s mayor estimates a budget of $4.1 billion. Like all house flips though, it will likely go over budget. The hope is that the bid won’t be a flop.
Chairman Larry Probst and CEO Scott Blackmun said they hope to reach a final decision by the end of the month. Initial bids are due to the International Olympic Committee on Sept. 15.
“You can’t overestimate the importance of the experience,” Blackmun said of LA. “They have strong venues. They have incredibly strong public support. They have incredibly strong political support.
“I think LA has just kind of been there and understands the tremendous upside,” he added. “They’re also very aware that with any big project there is risk, but they’ve taken a very hard look at that and the calculus that they did suggests the benefits outweigh the risks.”
Should LA win, it would become the second city to host three Olympic Games (1932, 1984). If you have an hour, feel free to watch highlights from the Games of the XXIV Olympiad.
LINKS:
IOC rules out viral testing of Rio waters despite AP report.
NBC announced Wednesday that Ryan Seacrest will host late-night coverage of Rio 2016. USA Today explains why that’s not a terrible idea.
Everyone seems to have a solution to the biggest problem facing the Olympic movement. CityLab thinks that the Games should take place in just one place – an Olympic island – every four years, while Vice takes it one step further and makes the pitch that Vancouver, Washington should host the Olympics from now on.
DeGuzman Sports 