Monday, July 31, 2017

Olympic Games: Los Angeles set to announce it will host in 2028


Los Angeles is set to announce it will host the 2028 Olympic Games, meaning Paris will stage the 2024 edition.
In June, the International Olympic Committee voted to name hosts for successive Games - with just Paris and Los Angeles bidding - but it was unclear which would host in which year.
Both cities had wanted to host the 2024 event.
But at a news conference scheduled for 01:00 BST on Tuesday, the LA bid will announce it has agreed to host in 2028.
A source close to the negotiations told BBC Sport that for LA to have accepted the 2028 Games there will have had to have been significant financial benefits that outweigh the benefit of hosting in 2024.
The International Olympic Committee wanted LA and Paris to reach an agreement by September and had they not, a vote to select the 2024 host would have been held.
In June, Los Angeles bid chair Casey Wasserman appeared to concede to Paris when he said: "We have never been only about 2024."
However, a spokesman later told BBC Sport: "LA is the ideal host city for 2024 and is not conceding anything in the race for the 2024 Games."
Paris has said it has to go first as the site it has earmarked for the Olympic Village will not be available for redevelopment after 2024.
Los Angeles had argued that it could host a low-cost Olympics given that it already has all the necessary infrastructure in place, while Paris would need to build several expensive structures.
The two cities were the only ones left in the race for 2024 after Budapest, Hamburg and Rome withdrew.
LA will describe this as a victory, that they've brought the Olympics back to the USA for the first time since 2002, when Salt Lake City hosted the Winter Games, and that the IOC has provided financial benefits for agreeing to wait until 2028.
But Paris is the real winner. The contest was for 2024 and the French capital has got what it wanted. It will mark the centenary of the last time it hosted the summer showpiece.
The IOC will also attempt to portray itself as a winner. In reality this was a disappointing bidding contest involving just two, albeit strong, candidates.
Boston, Hamburg, Rome and Budapest all withdrew, fearful of the costs associated with staging the Games and a lack of public support.
Attracting potential host cities is a priority. The organisation now has time to do just that.

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