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Tuesday, Mar 19, 2024
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S.D. Still in the Field Of Olympics Hopefuls

Don’t look for San Diego’s bid to host the 2024 Summer Olympic Games to resemble anything remotely close to the $51 billion that Russia spent to host the Winter Olympics in Sochi.

Nevertheless, San Diego is still in the running to represent the United States if this nation decides to submit a bid, said Vincent Mudd, chairman of the local exploratory committee to attract the 2024 games here.

“As the list [of potential host cities] is getting whittled down, we’re still on it,” Mudd said. “The good news is we’re still talking with [the U.S. Olympic Committee], and we’re still providing them with information, and they’re still providing us with information.”

Last year, the U.S. Olympic Committee sent invitations to some 35 cities to gauge interest and their capability to support a bid. As of last month, that list is down to about five or six cities, Mudd said.

Other cities on the list include Boston, Dallas, Philadelphia, San Francisco and Los Angeles, which hosted the Summer Games in 1932 and 1984.

The USOC was serious enough to send a contingent to visit San Diego and meet with committee members in October, Mudd said.

USOC to Decide This Year

Meanwhile, the exploratory committee was serious enough to recently name lawyer Bill Earley, now the co-chairman, to become the committee’s president. Calls to Earley, who is leaving McKenna Long & Aldridge LLP, weren’t returned. Jack Berkman, the committee’s spokesman, said an official announcement on the position has yet to be made.

Mudd estimated San Diego’s budget to attract the Summer Games at about $2.5 million for developing plans, engineering and other services.

The next step in the process will happen in late April, when the USOC is expected to narrow the field to two or three cities and make its final decision on the host city for a bid by the end of this year. The International Olympic Committee will begin its process on naming the site for the 2024 games next year, and it’s expected to announce the decision in 2017.

The U.S. failed with its bids to land the 2012 Summer Games in New York and the 2016 Summer Games in Chicago. It last hosted an Olympics in Salt Lake City in 2002 with the Winter Games. The last Summer Olympics in the U.S. was 1996 in Atlanta.

The U.S. didn’t submit a bid for the 2020 Summer Olympics, which the IOC awarded to Tokyo last year.

80 Percent of Venues in Place

Critics say that any city that wins the U.S. bid should expect to shell out billions of dollars — and that even if it gets the games it will end up costing far more than it delivers.

Mudd said that might be true of cities that need to build a lot of new venues, but he doesn’t think that’s the case here.

A glitzy video created for the San Diego campaign touts that “more than 80 percent of the necessary proposed venues are already in place.”

Among the key missing pieces are an Olympic track and field stadium and an aquatics center.

The four-minute video available on the committee’s website touts the region’s multicultural character, its successful innovation economy, its experience in hosting other international and major sporting events, and of course, the weather.

Given what recent Olympic cities spent on the games, finances are sure to be a factor. Sochi broke all records with a reported budget of $51 billion. The 2012 London Olympic Summer Games were relatively cheap at $14 billion when compared with the $43 billion spent on the 2008 Summer Games in Beijing.

Mudd said the IOC realizes that the Olympics would be best served by returning to the United States, “but the truth is if it’s going to take $60 billion to host the Olympics, I don’t think we’ll bid on it.”

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