The USOC has named 4 finalists on Friday to win the right to bid on behalf of the United States for the 2024 Olympic Games. If successful, this would be the first American-hosted summer Olympics since the 1996 games in Atlanta.
The four finalists are Boston, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Washington, D.C., and were voted upon by the USOC Board of Directors on Tuesday in a closed meeting.
The two cities that were knocked out in this round included San Diego, which presented a complicated bid that was originally believed to be a cross-border proposal with Tijuana; and Dallas, which has significant sporting infrastructure, but always felt like a long shot as being too far outside of the traditional American centers of power.
“We would like to express our gratitude to the cities of Dallas and San Diego, which will not be moving forward in the bid process,” said USOC Chairman Larry Probst. “Dallas had a great bid and matching leadership, along with a well-established sporting community. We have no doubt about the ability of Dallas to host the Olympic and Paralympic Games, and look forward to working with them in the future to enhance the international awareness of the city. Also, we very much appreciate the high-quality proposal from San Diego, a city that truly embraces sport and has a long history of supporting Team USA. Both of these world-class cities are committed to working with the USOC to enhance the Olympic Movement in the United States.”
The USOC presented their four finalists along with some notes about each one, which can be seen below. Notably, no swimming-specific venues were listed, and that’s because none of the cities currently have a swimming venue that could host any portion of the aquatics venue, meaning likely construction or conversion of another arena into a temporary swimming facility. Depending on the ultimate legacy plans, that could become a huge positive for swimming in the United States, as at least one permanent venue could be rolled into the plans.
Whoever is chosen by the USOC as the American candidate will then face off against candidates from around the world in a multi-level bidding process. The Americans will have a big push behind this bid, both because of how long it’s been since the U.S. will have hosted any Olympics (22 years by the time 2024 rolls around) and because they didn’t put up a bidder for the 2022 Winter Olympics.
The International Olympic Committee will decide this summer from July 7th-9th upon which applicant cities will be accepted as candidate cities, with bids taken in 2015 and a decision expected in 2017.
Note: Los Angeles would likely use the new Belmont venue for some portion of aquatics competition, if they were to win the bid.
- Boston
Population*: 636,000
Tourist Attractions: Freedom Trail, Faneuil Hall, Boston Common, Old North Church, Harvard University
Major Sporting Venues: Fenway Park, TD Garden, Gillette Stadium
Notable Sports Events Held in City: Boston Marathon, Head of the Charles
Homegrown Olympians: Tenley Albright, Mike Eruzione, Jim Craig, Aly Raisman
Main industries: Biotech; education
- Los Angeles
Population*: 3.8 million
Tourist Attractions: Hollywood Sign, Walk of Fame, The Grove, Universal Studio, Disneyland, Rodeo Drive
Major Sporting Venues: Staples Center, StubHub Center, Rose Bowl, Honda Center, Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, Dodger Stadium
Notable Sports Events Held In City: Olympic Games (1932, 1984), FIFA World Cup Final
Homegrown Olympians: Michelle Kwan, Venus and Serena Williams, Janet Evans
Main Industry: Entertainment
- San Francisco
Population*: 825,000
Tourist Attractions: Golden Gate Bridge, Alcatraz, Fisherman’s Wharf, Cable Cars, Lombard Street
Major Sporting Venues: Levi’s Stadium, Oracle Arena, O.co Coliseum, AT&T Park
Notable Sports Events Held in City: Bay to Breakers, America’s Cup
Homegrown Olympians: Peggy Fleming, Kristi Yamaguchi, Natalie Coughlin, Kerri Walsh Jennings
Main industry: Technology
- Washington, D.C.
Population*: 632,000
Tourist Attractions: The White House, The Capitol, Washington Monument, Smithsonian, The Mall, National Zoo, Cherry Blossoms
Major Sporting Venues: FedEx Field, Verizon Center, Nationals Park
Notable Sports Events Held in City: Marine Corps Marathon, Citi Open
Homegrown Olympians: Dominique Dawes, LaShawn Merritt, Kevin Durant, Katie Ledecky
Main industry: Politics
*Note: Population as of 2012
Does anyone know why wasn’t Chicago one of the bid cities? They were for the 2016 Olympics.
Actually, La-Orange gets more tourism than San Francisco because of Universal Studios and Disneyland. In fact there is a lot of tourist buses from Hotels in the greater LA area. Anaheim south of Los Angeles has the best Hotel transportation to get tourist tp things. In fact Anaheim is building a big Transportation hub for Amtrak and Metro link,. its working on its public transportation which has been slow there since the Anaheim Hill Republicans don’t use the Transportation system like the Hispanic immigrants that live now Disneyland but its developing. Closer in La there are a lot of Hotels that also have good Hotel transportation to tourist events. LA like it did in 1984 can have Olympic events from… Read more »
Disneyland nowadays is really a poor cousin to Disney World in Florida which attracts many more international visitors. If we’re talking about theme parks as a main cultural attraction or selling point that’s not a good sign. I’ve lived in Southern California most of my life and the public transportation and long distance commuting are a real issue. Personally, I just think San Francisco and the Bay Area in general would project a more appealing image of the US instead of the sprawl of LA and the icons which consist of things such as the letters spelling out Hollywood on a hill or the seedy Santa Monica Pier in lieu of San Francisco’s fisherman’s wharf. There are nicer areas of… Read more »
I think aesthetically and internationally San Francisco/Bay Area would have the most appeal. I live in the greater LA area but this is not a metro area with a tourist friendly infrastructure. All of these cities have traffic issues but none of them have the sprawl or the poor public transport issues of SoCal. Moreover, not unsurprisingly most international visitors rate San Fran much higher than LA. LA has hosted twice already. Despite being in the same state San Francisco has a much different character. In my opinion (obviously) Los Angeles cannot compete with the Golden Gate Bridge, Alcatraz, and just the general beauty of the vistas from the bay or the many bridges. I would also support Boston over… Read more »
Why anyone city would want the hassle and expense of hosting the games is beyond me. It’s a huge financial loss for the tax payers. Does give a bunch of paper pushers a job for several years writing their bids though.
#BOSTONFOR2024!!!
DC? Worst weather and traffic in the US. San Francisco is a home run.
I’m a DC native, and I weathered many horrible summers there. The legacy of east coast summer misery is legendary. I can’t imagine a marathon, track 10k, or cycling road race there in that heat.
That said: there are great sports possibilities there. Whitewater on the Potomac. Sailing in Annapolis and the Chesapeake Bay. There’s an existing tennis facility, and Fed Ex Field for soccer. Open water marathon in the Potomac and utilizing the Tidal Basin which is a natural for spectators, in the shadow of the Jefferson Memorial. A marathon run along the National Mall: are you kidding me!?! Historic! Washington Monument, the Capital, Lincoln Memorial, the Museums, Vietnam Memorial, Embassy Row (Mass Avenue), under the Kennedy Center,… Read more »
BaldingEagle – NBC already has the rights to 2024, so the outcome of this vote wouldn’t affect how many billions they cough up.
#BOSTONFOR2024!!!