Budapest, Hamburg, Los Angeles, Paris, Rome Bidding for 2024 Olympic Games

Sept. 16, 2015

The International Olympic Committee announced Wednesday that Budapest, Hamburg, Los Angeles, Paris and Rome have officially bid to host the summer Olympic Games in 2024.

The IOC also announced it will contribute US$1.7 billion (€1.51 billion) in cash and services to the organizing committee for the Games.

Los Angeles, Paris and Rome have hosted the Games previously, the American city in 1932 and 1984 and the French capital in 1900 and 1924.

The Olympic Games are held once every four years. Rio de Janeiro will host the 2016 Games and Tokyo in 2020.

The eventual host city for 2024 will be selected by the full IOC membership in Lima, Peru in 2017.

The IOC said it is “placing greater emphasis on the use of existing venues or temporary and demountable venues where no long-term need exists or can be justified.” This is a change from previous Games that often led to massive costs for new facilities that sometimes had little use after the Olympics.

“We are welcoming five outstanding and highly qualified candidate cities,” said IOC President Thomas Bach. “Olympic Agenda 2020 has shaped the Candidature Process more as an invitation and the cities have responded by engaging with the IOC through dialogue and cooperation. In the new invitation process the IOC learned that all the candidates are embracing Olympic Agenda 2020 from their respective vision for the future of their city. Sustainability and legacy are the cornerstones of each candidature.”

In keeping with what it described as “its commitment to good governance, transparency and ethics” the IOC published for the first time at the outset all the documents related to the applications. (Available here: Candidature Process Olympic Games 2024, Candidature Questionnaire Olympic Games 2024, Host City Contract Principles, and Host City Contract Operational Requirements.)

Changes to the host city contract that the cities agreed to include:

–Reference to sexual orientation in the non-discrimination clause as part of the Host City Contract Principles with overarching significance for the entire Olympic Games’ project. The IOC is clear that sport is a human right and should be available to all regardless of race, sex or sexual orientation as stated in the Olympic Charter;

–Freedom of media to report on the Olympic Games is now integrated in the Host City Contract Principles, and

–An amendment on labor law compliance that states the city, the national Olympic Committee and the Organizing Committee “shall take all necessary measures to ensure that development projects and other projects necessary for the organization of the Games comply with local, regional and national legislation and international agreements and protocols, applicable in the Host Country with regard to planning, construction, protection of the environment, health and safety, labor and anti-corruption laws.”

The IOC has cut down to 350 pages what previously was more than 7,000 pages of technical manuals contractually binding host city operational requirements.

The IOC said interest in hosting the 2024 Games was “bolstered by the new Invitation Phase and other reform initiatives” that “allow for greater creativity, more transparency, lower costs and simplified procedures.”