The citizens of Hamburg, Germany are set to vote tomorrow, November 29th on the referendum supporting the city’s bid to host the Olympics in 2024.
Residents will simply be asked to respond with either ‘yes’ or ‘no’, with the German Olympic Sports Confederation (DOSB) ceasing to proceed with a Hamburg bid should the referendum response be negative. According to Reuters, the bid needs a simple majority approval, as well as at least 20% of the registered electorate casting a “yes” vote in order for the city’s campaign to continue.
A poll conducted by the German Olympic Sports Confederation (DOSB) conducted last month revealed that 63% of local residents support the city’s pursuit to host the world’s biggest sporting event. “An event the size of the Olympics can only be staged in agreement with the citizens and the government,” said Hamburg mayor Olaf Scholz, who cast his mail vote earlier this week and hopes for a “strong majority result”.
For those opposed to a Hamburg bid, concerns about overall event costs were cited as the primary reason for not supporting the venture. Latest budget estimates put the entire hosting costs around the 7.4 billion euro ($7.86 billion) mark. Additionally, the recent influx of refugees have sparked security fears, especially in light of the attacks on Paris earlier this month. For perspective, a poll conducted in Paris prior to the terrorist attacks showed support for the Games there had checked in at 56%, which is 7% lower than the poll’s numbers from 2 months earlier.
However, DOSB President Alfons Hoermann told the press this week that, “I see a clear positive tendency along the lines of ‘especially now’,”The majority seems to share our opinion that fear is not a prospect.”
The situation surrounding America’s original 2024 Olympics bid city of Boston exemplified how a city’s putting forth a bid is anything but a sure thing. Opposition to an Olympic bid in Boston was strong from the outset, with criticism rumbling over the cost of the Games and the city’s viability to adequately host them, among other things. The United States Olympic Committee then withdrew its support, which ultimately killed the bid.
With the DOSB having had to submit the name of its bid city to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) by September 15th, if Hamburg should not be publicly supported via the referendum, no other German city would be able to enter the bidding race in its place.
Referendum results should be made public on November 29th or 30th. If Hamburg proceeds as a viable city, it will join Budapest, Los Angeles, Rome and Paris as the final five cities from which the IOC will vote on at its session in Lima, Peru in 2017.